Policies
Grading
Course Outline
Instructor's Notes
Assignments
Bibliography
Instructor
Discussion
Board
Virtual Classroom
| |
PST 321 INSTRUCTOR'S NOTES WEEK EIGHT-
EMOTIONALLY DISTURBED INDIVIDUALS PART II
Welcome to week eight. This
week we will continue to discuss negotiating with the emotionally disturbed.
Our focus this week will be the Paranoid, Inadequate, and Antisocial
disorders.
Paranoid
Usually when we refer to someone
as paranoid, we are generally referring to a person who thinks that someone (or
something) is trying to “get” him. While
this is an accurate assessment of one element of paranoia, persons suffering
from paranoia disorders can prove to be far more complex in their hallucinations
and delusions.
Imagine for a moment that you are
26 years old and you are walking in the mall one Saturday looking for a gift for
a friend. All of a sudden you hear
a voice say your name. You turn to
see which friend it might be calling you. No
one is there except strangers going about their business.
You decide that it must be another Larry someone was calling.
You hear the voice again, this time it tells you that you are the Larry
it was speaking too. Up and until
this moment in your life you have lived a normal existence. You graduated from
college, got a job, and are dating your future spouse as far as you are
concerned. Now you are hearing
voices almost constantly. The
voices discuss very private matters in your life they tell you that you should
say and do things that you would never do.
Most towns in this country have individuals in them that make calls to
the police or sheriff department and talk about the “little men” or tell
about the new mission that God spoke to them about.
Many times officers find these people easy means of breaking up the
boredom of a slow shift. The
officer may go out to the residence and chase away the little men or sit and
listen to and “agree” with the fantastic stories that are spun.
People that suffer from Paranoid Schizophrenia are many times known as
the local “nut” or any of several other disrespectful names.
We “deal” with these people when we have too or when we find it
convenient. Then one day the human
being within the schizophrenic decides that it is time to be respected.
Now, how do you deal with it? Maybe
he is threatening to commit suicide or maybe he has taken a knife to his elderly
mother, either way you are going to listen! And this time you might just hear
what he has been trying to tell you for years.
I said all this to help you become empathetic toward people that suffer
from schizophrenia. If you have
ever gone through a divorce, it is easy to understand the feelings of a man that
is thinking of killing himself because he is losing his family.
However, it can be difficult to understand someone who is thinking of
committing suicide because it is the forth day of the month and the mother ship
will be coming to get him. What
would your mental state be if you were constantly hearing or seeing things that
are not there?
Schizophrenics can be very
difficult to negotiate with. Mainly
because many times they live in a different level of reality than we do.
Leveling becomes next to impossible.
Schizophrenics are not “crazy,” they just hear or see things they we
do not. I am not trying to be
facetious, my point is that they are capable of grasping reality and you can
communicate with them. Do not fall
into the trap of trying to understand the source of the hallucinations.
Do not try to read anything into the hallucinations.
Your job should be to work around the hallucinations and get the
situation resolved safely. You may
hear a schizophrenic describe some very bizarre things that he is hearing,
seeing, tasting, feeling or even smelling.
Try to work through this by not arguing with the subject about reality;
it is reality to him. It is still
possible to determine smilers and elevators for the subject so try to start
writing them down as soon as you can. Even
though the subject may be delusional, he may step outside of his delusion if he
feels threatened or thinks that he is in imminent danger.
He still has the needs that Maslow referenced in the hierarchy of needs.
His perception of these needs may be clouded, but the basic human needs
are still there. Be careful not to
try to rush building rapport with a schizophrenic.
Schizophrenics tend to be very leery of trusting people that they do not
know very well. It will take time
to build rapport in these situations. Take
it slow and remember time is your ally. It
is very difficult to learn as much as you need to about something as complex as
schizophrenia in the short amount of time allotted in this class or covered in
the text. Therefore, I recommend
that you spend a little more time studying this topic and learning a little more
about schizophrenics. As stated
earlier there is a very good chance that you will be dealing with schizophrenics
as a telecommunicator. Even if it
is not a suicide or hostage situation, having more knowledge about what a
schizophrenic is going through will help you to understand how best to respond
to the situation.
Dependant Personality
The quickest way to
determine if you are dealing with a dependant personality is to consider his
demands. Dependants tend to have
demands that involve bringing someone back into their life.
Many times if you have contact with a dependant it will be because
someone has left them. Dependants
tend to smother their partner in a relationship and to become attached very
quickly. This abrupt attachment can
be scary to people and will make them break off the relationship.
A dependant feels that they must have someone to depend on and will go to
the extreme to get someone back in their life.
With the dependant individual the
process of negotiation can be a little easier in the area of rapport building.
They want someone to take control of their life and help them make
decisions. They do not like to make decisions, so avoid giving them too
much information to deal with at once. Give
them options with the correct choice clearly stated. For example, you should say, “It makes me nervous when you
wave that gun around. Don’t you
think we would all feel more comfortable if you put the gun on the table?”
Or if you have built rapport with the individual you might say,
“Larry, will you put the gun on the table.
It makes me nervous.” You
need to be empathetic but confidant while you negotiate with a dependant. I have negotiated with dependant persons in the past.
All the situations were resolved fairly quickly.
The only problem I have had has been when the subject kept wanting to
contact me after the incident. If
you assist in resolving a situation involving a dependant, remember to be very
professional in your relationship with the subject after the situation is
resolved. A good follow up statement to make to a dependant would be,
“I’m glad that the 911 center was able to help you through this difficult
time in your life.” This may be
impersonal but it is professional and it lets the subject know that you view
this as your job and nothing more.
Antisocial
The antisocial is basically the criminal mind.
As the text mentions, recent studies show that 85% of population in
prisons is antisocial. The best way
to negotiate with the antisocial is to make him think that the options you are
offering are in his best interest. It
does not matter to him how his action affect others, as long as his desires are
met. This type person is very ego
driven. Therefore, surrender must
be done in such a way that the subject is able to save face and even look good.
Antisocial individuals tend to be of above average intelligence and
street smart. So, do not try to con a con man.
Make sure you do not lie to the antisocial. Understand that you should consider most of what he says as
false until you can confirm the validity of a statement. If you hear a gunshot and he says he has shot a hostage, do
not believe it until you see the body (This is true in all hostage situations).
The antisocial tends to be a very good liar.
You may find that the subject is “a very likable fellow.” Be careful
not to let his likeability cloud your judgment.
You will have to be creative in dealing with the antisocial.
He tends to get bored easily. This
is an example of a subject you might use your list of elevators with quite
often, if engaging him keeps his mind off of hurting the hostages.
|