The Rational Basis® of Happiness Podcast

The Selfish Path to Romance. Download chapter one for free at DoctorKenner.com and @amazon.com

I went into my doctor's office and I'm waiting for him, and he's always on time, but this time I can see him. He's rushing around in the back, and he's over a half hour late, and now it's going over 45 minutes late, and I'm thinking, what's going on here? This is not like him, and he doesn't look like the cool, calm doctor that I'm used to seeing. He's usually very warm and affable. And so I catch his eye, he sees me, and very abruptly, he says, "Listen, I'm trying to get my parents out of Florida. I've got to take care of this before anything else, I've got to get them on a plane, and everybody is trying to get out of Florida." That was during the hurricane.

Now, how do you deal with the aftermath of a hurricane or a tornado or a fire or maybe a layoff at work? It's not something that many of us give thought to in our everyday life, but there are professionals who make it a lifetime career. With me today is Dr. James Campbell, who is the Rhode Island coordinator for the American Psychological Association and the American Red Cross Disaster Response Network, and he's a frequent consultant to corporations regarding crisis response and threat of violence. He's the director of the University of Rhode Island Counseling Center, and he teaches courses in traumatic stress and workplace violence. And he's even written a book Hostage, Terror and Triumph. Welcome to the show, Dr. Campbell.

Thank you very much.

It's a pleasure to have you with us today. Give me a brief overview of what you do. You know, I talked about my doctor being in a crisis because he's afraid for his parents. They're elderly, they're in Florida. They've just been through hurricane after hurricane. That was that season where there were multiple hurricanes. Help me understand what you do as a disaster expert, and how you deal with these types of situations.

Okay, the particular role I assume would frequently depend upon the context. Things occurring at the university, for instance, I would typically be the lead mental health person on the scene and the decision maker in terms of, you know, what are we doing to establish services for students or faculty and staff or family members or those kinds of things. If I'm responding at a national disaster with the American Red Cross, then basically do as assigned and try to respond as needed. Those kinds of crises usually require people to be pretty flexible. You could be working with a distraught person who's lost their home one minute, you could be helping in a shelter child care area the next minute. And the role is really to be flexible and respond to the needs as they arise. In corporate environments, the role is partly to provide direct service and partly to consult with management about how to support their employees and make plans going forward. When do they reopen? Or when do they have employees back, and what do they say? And, you know, all those kinds of things. So it's fairly varied depending upon the context.

So the types of crises, they vary from either natural crises such as a hurricane or a tornado or a flood or a tsunami, to man-made ones, things that are either accidents, car accidents, to problems at the university. What type of problems, you mentioned problems with students? What type might cause a big crisis on campus?

Oh, things certainly involving a death or serious injury of a student.

So if a student suicided, that would be...

Suicide, or accident, or sudden natural death, all those things can...

So if they aren't playing soccer or something, and they just have a heart attack or an asthma attack that kills them, what are the range of responses that you see immediately after something like that happens? This kid's on the soccer field doing fine, everyone's happy, and suddenly the kid is gasping for breath, and it's a normal asthma attack, everyone thinks. And the next thing you know, the kid is dead. The child has a heart attack. If you were on the scene there, what would you do?

Well, of course, the first thing to attend to is the medical needs and making sure the appropriate police, fire, rescue, whatever that might entail. But in focusing mostly on the social mental health issues, you would see a range of responses generally, and it varies quite a bit depending upon the population that's affected and on the nature of the event. But there’ll be some people responding quietly, more stoically. There’ll be people in shock and unable to act for a time. There’ll be sometimes people who are responding in a very, very agitated way, even yelling or screaming or crying or things like that. And so it can vary quite a bit. And what you try to do is bring a bit of order and safety to the scene. If there's, say, an incident that involves something that's pretty grisly, you don't want people to be exposed to that.

So a car accident where people... or 911...

Yeah, right. Or, you know, a violent event, or things of that nature. Try to protect people. We know that post-traumatic symptoms are related to the degree of exposure to sights and sounds and so forth that cause disruption. So try to protect people to some degree, find a place that's safe and comfortable for them to be. They may need to be around for police interviews or other things or to get cleared medically, depending upon what's happened. But it's about trying to bring some order, structure, and support. People in shock sometimes need some gentle guidance.

So what are some things you might say?

Hey, I got to interrupt this because we've got to pay some bills. 30 seconds, that's it. A very quick ad, and then Alan will be back.

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It's about trying to bring some order, structure, and support. People in shock sometimes need some gentle guidance.

So what are some things you might say?

Again, depending on the incident, I might say, you know, we can wait over here. And is there anything that you need? Do you wish to make a phone call? Usually focusing on immediate and concrete needs. People usually want to call a family member or a friend and be in touch to let them know that they're okay, to connect with their world.

Exactly, yeah.

Sometimes if it’s in the middle of the winter, they just may need something warm to wear, or one place to stay. They may need eyeglasses or water, you know, those kinds of things. Sometimes I call it psychological first aid. And just like medical first aid, you don't need to be a licensed professional to provide it. It's a lot of basic common sense.

So many people just do that naturally.

Yeah, and yet, if you're not prepared, you're not sure what to do. Providers are not necessarily sure what to do. Mental health providers don't get training in how to respond in the first minutes or first hours after a traumatic event. The training is more, you know, okay, they come in the next day or a couple of weeks later and they're upset, you know...

You see them in your office and you, but you're not on the scene with them. So that's what's so unique about what you do and what you've made a lifetime career of. This is Dr. James Campbell, who's the Rhode Island coordinator for the American Psychological Association and American Red Cross Disaster Response Network. You do this as a living. Could you just name some of the factors that impact how a person reacts?

How a person reacts? Well, it would be related to the way they've reacted to other challenging or traumatic events. It would be related to the intensity of the event, what has happened, and how close, both physically and psychologically, they feel to it.

Like 9/11, if you didn't have somebody that died in it, it's different than if you know several people who were your family members who died in the 9/11 disaster.

Sure, or also if you used to work there and you feel psychologically connected.

Right.

We have a friend who was trapped in the elevator during the first attack, so that was quite traumatic.

Yeah, those kinds of things. Even if you're physically distant but psychologically very connected, it can be very hard. Very hard.

Yes, yeah.

Listen, I want to thank you so much for joining us today, and I hope we can continue this and talk about psychological first aid on another show. Okay?

And here's a little more from Dr. Kenner.

Someone earlier had asked me, "Why do people pursue happiness? Why is it really the most important thing in the world?" Well, it's the most important thing because it's your life. It's the psychological state that you achieve by leading a good life, by making yourself lovable, having good virtues such as honesty and integrity, independent judgment, a good sense of justice, and a wonderful sense of pride, and being rational, that's the essence of it. So there is no such thing as happiness by whim. Those short-range things that people call happiness will never help them achieve happiness.

For more Dr. Kenner podcasts, go to DrKenner.com and please listen to this next segment.

Here’s an excerpt from The Selfish Path to Romance, the serious romance guidebook by clinical psychologist Dr. Ellen Kenner and co-author Dr. Edwin Locke, who’s world-famous for his theories in goal setting:

Constant, fresh, and interesting communication makes you lovable, but this takes work. To keep your relationship and the conversation interesting over a period of years, stay mentally active and alert together. Learn and discover new things, acquire new tastes, study new ideas, and choose new values. If you shut your mind off, you’ll become a bore, and no one will enjoy talking with you—not even your mother. Vegetables are good to eat, but they aren’t any fun to converse with. If you want to be loved, work to make yourself lovable.

You can download chapter one for free by going to DrKenner.com and you can buy The Selfish Path to Romance at amazon.com.