A major critical incident is any situation / event which is unpredictable and where the people involved may be exposed to threatening / life threatening occurrences.

They can occur in a person’s personal life and / or their employment / business life. The people / person involved may well feel powerless, overwhelmed, frozen or even just running on automatic pilot.

The effects of a major critical incident are not always felt at the time.

It is important to recognise when a major critical incident has occurred and to then address this and have in place constructive and effective strategies which effectively desensitise the person / persons to the incident and the memory / emotional attachments involved.

Examples of some possible signs / symptoms may include;

• Social and / or emotional withdrawal
• Flashbacks
• Intrusive thoughts
• Hallucinations
• Sleep disturbance / nightmares etc
• Hyper vigilance / hyper arousal
• Increased anger
• Use of alcohol / drugs
• Feeling of pending doom
• Inability to concentrate
• Labile mood / mood swings
• Numbing

Examples of some types of major critical incidents include;

• Assaults
• Violence
• Abuse; physical, sexual / rape and domestic abuse
• Bullying / intimidation
• Suicides
• Witnessing crime
• Environmental issues; natural disasters – floods, earthquakes, fires etc

There is much evidence to support that early recognition of a major critical incident and appropriate psychological interventions reduce the trauma / distress experienced.

This requires a skilled and professional approach based on sound knowledge and clinical effectiveness.

EMDR in which the EMDR Association UK & Ireland only permits mental health professional to specialise in) is recognised by NICE (The National Institute of Clinical Excellence) as a preferred modality in treating PTSD and many other anxiety states which are a frequent symptom following a major critical incident.

At Hypnoplease, EMDR is used alongside the effective Fast Phobia Cure utilised in Analytical Hypnotherapy and together these approaches can effectively remove the auto contractile effect.

For a thorough, effective and professional approach which gets results contact;