Chapter 3: Recognition: What Does Spinning Look Like?

One of the KNRK Disc Jockeys apologized on his Web site, posting a statement that read: "I have become so numb to the horrific things that happen in this world that I sometimes forget there are still people who feel. I in no way meant to be insensitive to anyone . My comments on this (the playing of an audiotape of the beheading of American Nick Berg by Iraqi militants on the air) were inappropriate."

Rumsfeld is trying to focus the public spotlight on the upcoming courts-martial of lower-level soldiers implicated in the Iraqi prisoner abuse, even as lawmakers ask if anyone up the chain of command is culpable. (Associated Press, May 15, 2004)

The rates of Acute Stress Disorder following traumatic incidents vary, with higher rates reported for human caused trauma.

7%	Typhoon
6%	Industrial Accident
33%	Mass shooting
19%	Violent assault
(Thomas/Bryant, 2002)

WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS CHAPTER:

Can you predict which employees will do well during crisis and who might fall apart under duress? When everyone looks like they are doing well, why do some employees rise to the occasion while others become management nightmares? How can you tell the difference? Should you even try? Can you even discuss it? What words would you use? What is a reasonable response? What is unreasonable? What would happen to your management skills if there were a 33% increase in employees with clinically diagnosable stress disorders? Not recognizing the dynamics of human emotions at the workplace is an increasing risk factor of emergency and disaster planning. Reading this chapter will give you some new ways of seeing employees and help broaden your view about the ranges of behaviors and adjustments of your employees . You will read that different people react differently to stress, that this is normal, and to be expected.