Dr. Jyoti Kapoor
MBBS, DPM, DNB
Psychiatry at Paras Hospital
Gurugram
The migrant laborer’s mass exodus, the villages barricaded to prevent health care workers entry, the pelting of stones over police and doctors trying to screen people for their own safety and myriad such incidents at individual and community level make us question the sanity as well as the inhumanity of our actions and reactions in times of crisis! Why is human behavior so paradoxical that what brings out the best in some of us also brings out the worst in many.
Crisis by definition is a state of instability that threatens the well-being of an individual or a society. The response of an individuals to something dangerous is thus dependent on the individual perception of this danger and the available resources to deal with the danger. But when the crisis is perceived at a mass scale, individual response becomes a herd response causing further chaos or instability.
All living organisms have an inbuilt mechanism to deal with threat or danger, we call it a stress response. The acute the danger, the higher is the activation of our nervous system’s defense mechanism which is mediated by a physiological response manifesting as a psychological state of hyper arousal. The release of adrenaline causes increase in dilatation of blood vessels, increase in heart rate, faster respiratory rate and increase in muscle tension among other things in order to make us ready to flee the danger or fight with it. Psychological response is geared to focus on the threat while filtering out everything around it creating heightened sense of what will go wrong rather than what can be done right. So, while in a non-emergency state, we analyze situation to understand cause and effect of a problem to identify a viable from a neutral perspective, in emergency situations, the urgency to act makes us jump to conclusions without looking at all available options. The higher the perception of damage, more intense is this reaction, making us want to lash out or run in panic. This hampers our ability to process information adequately, causing more confusion. We then go back to our belief systems because it’s familiar and comforting and may have helped us tackle similar situations earlier. The close community and religious affiliation becomes stronger because it appears to protect and safe guard our interests and anything or anyone unfamiliar is perceived as an outsider or the enemy. We tighten our boundaries to defend ourselves against what seem like invaders and become hostile towards whatever or whoever is considered the other. Another component of this behavior is blindly following the one who leads the group. Because individuals feel confused, uncertain and afraid of being left out, they follow the herd without analysis of the cause or consequences of their individual action. It’s mediated by the thought that ‘whatever happens will happen to all so we are not alone’.
All this constitutes a series of reactions that when seen by a bystander appear to be unreasonable and unjustifiable because instead of safeguarding the interests of people, the very action worsens the damage one was trying to avoid.Be it a stampede that is triggered by an unverified rumor of a possible threatening event or violent acts by a mob towards security personnel during a demonstration, these occurrences appear so often that they can be anticipated during crisis situations.
The solution thus lies in understanding the root cause of the problem and including them in crisis management strategies.
- Realistic Risk Analysis- It’s important to perceive danger to react to it, but sudden threat causes sudden response without giving time to the individuals to absorb or acknowledge the extent of perceived threat. A realistic communication of facts without the emotional epithets is thus important to give time to audience to allow the information to sink in.
- Bring Clarity- The confusion around the cause and consequences of a problem causes uncertainty and leaves room for speculation. Factual information which is clear, short and precisely spelled out helps one focus on the preventive measures better.
- Instill Confidence- People seek out leaders who they believe will work in their interests. If they feel they can trust a leadership’s intention, they will be willing to follow suit rather than find their own resources to help them out of the crisis. It’s important to instill confidence that measures are being taken with an intent for the well-being of each and every one and not a certain privileged lot. Any rumors of differential treatment aggravate the loss of confidence thus causing mayhem.
- Focus on Positive– It’s natural requirement of defense system to focus the vision on the threat while the surroundings get dimmed out, this is target practice! The graphic and rhetorical representation of circumstances over various media and social media platforms repeatedly activates the nervous system overwhelming it with stress chemicals. What normally causes a flight or fight response initially may eventuallylead to a burnout or exhaustion causing an inability to act completely. The overwhelmed mind either goes into denial or a state of helplessness giving up all attempts to survive leading to depression or PTSD. Positive messages are therefore important in times of crisis to lighten up enough to find alternatives.
- Acknowledge Transitional Nature of Events- When doom looms large, people become restless and therefore act impulsively.Patience is the key which needs to be emphasized right at the beginning because we need to be reminded that if we wait it out, the night will eventually lead to a day
