Unfortunately, for most emergency workers, as well as frequent exposure to the effects of human violence or other suffering, there is a culture of expectation that you have to ‘tough it out’ and ‘put up with it’.
So you don’t know if others feel the same as you.
Added to that, you usually don’t have time to emotionally process it because you are called out to another job;
And on top of that, you rarely know the outcome for the patient and are not able to talk about what you saw or experienced with your family or friends, or you don’t want to because you don’t want them to be upset, like you are.
Often Emergency workers start to believe that in order to stay in the job they have to shut off their feelings to survive. This can have a longer lasting effect on emotional regulation and cause even more distress when ‘breakthrough’ feelings occur.
