Survival Psychology PDF
Preview Survival Psychology
SURVIVAL PSYCHOLOGY Also l7y John Leach RUNNING APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY EXPERIMENTS Survival Psychology John Leach Lecturer in Psychology University 01 Lancaster Consultant Editor: Jo Campling M MACMILLAN ©John Leach 1994 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reprodllced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or llnder the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenharn Court Road, London WIP 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication rnay be liable to criminal prosecution ami civil claims for darnages. First published 1994 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD HOllndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world ISBN 978-0-333-51855-7 ISBN 978-0-230-37271-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230372719 A cataloglle record for this book is available frorn the British Library. To all those who ... shall go Always a little further: it may be Beyond that last blue mountain barr'd with snow Across that angry or that glimmering sea. James Elroy Flecker (1884-1915) The Golden Journey to Samarkand Contents J>reface IX Acknowledgements xii 1 Anatomy of a Disaster 1 2 Psychological Responses to a Disaster 10 3 Individual Reactions 30 4 Associated Factors in Survival 58 5 Coping Behaviour and Psychological First Aid 123 6 Long-Term Survival 148 7 Recovery and Post-Trauma 177 Appendix: J>sychological Aide-Memoire 196 References 197 Index 208 VII Preface Survival is a very personal thing - it is a very lonely thing. Even amongst others, be they familiar colleagues, nameless refugees or one's guards, the survivor is thrown in upon hirnself. How he copes psychologically with this situation will determine whether he becomes a survivor or remains a victim. It is one of life's paradoxes that survivorship may often be a joyless and a thank less task. Over recent years there have been many advances in survival equipment, technology and training both in the military and commercial areas. Yet, despite such advances, people still per ish in large numbers, in very little time and often without any known organic cause. Many will die quietly and with little fuss like a flame that chooses to glow no more. Much equipment sold for survival purposes is designed in warm rooms by people who often have little or no working knowledge ofhow the body performs under threat or in hostile conditions. They are fre quently surprised when their products are washed up, still intact and unused, alongside the corpses they were intended to prevent. Some training continues to be based on false premises and assumptions about how the body and brain function. Much of psychological concern has been directed almost exclusively towards understanding and medically treating the aftermath of survival and disasters, as can be witnessed by the recent medical and legal recognition of 'Post-Traumatic Stress Disor der' . Comparatively little effort has been focussed upon under standing and appreciating the psychological functioning of the would-be survivor during the actual period of personal threat, be this war, capsize, air crashes, bombings, incarcera tion in prisoner-of-war and concentration camps, tornadoes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, fires in offices, hornes, theatres and so on. It is psychological functioning during survival which this volume seeks to to address. It is intended as a primerin survival psychology. This book is written primarily for those in posi tions where they may be themselves called upon to survive or IX
The list of books you might like
