Το τραύμα του διασώστη

 - Αναρωτηθήκατε ποτέ πώς νιώθει αυτός που σώζει τις ζωές των άλλων;
Πώς αντέχουν την ψυχολογική πίεση και την διαρκή επαφή με τον κίνδυνο και τον θάνατο και μάλιστα σε ακραίες καταστάσεις όπως πχ το προσφυγικό; Η ψυχολογική υποστήριξη που χρειάζονται και η ζωή τους "μετά"...
Κατερίνα Πρίφτη




Χριστίνα Ψαρρά, συντονίστρια ομάδας έρευνας και διάσωσης στον Μόλυβο της Λέσβου την περίοδο 2015-2016. Σήμερα είναι υπεύθυνη της Μονάδας Επιχειρησιακής Έρευνας των Γιατρών Χωρίς Σύνορα, με έδρα τις Βρυξέλλες.
CHRISTINA PSARRA




Επιζώντες και διασώστες. Εκείνοι που σώθηκαν και εκείνοι που τους έσωσαν ή, κάποιες φορές, προσπάθησαν αλλά δεν πρόλαβαν ή δεν τα κατάφεραν. Άνθρωποι που μοιράζονται μια περιπέτεια ζωής από διαφορετική θέση. Με τον πρώτο να κουβαλά για πάντα μια τραυματική εμπειρία και τον δεύτερο να καλείται να σηκώσει ένα δυσβάσταχτο ψυχικό φορτίο, συχνά δύσκολα διαχειρίσιμο, που αφήνει το αποτύπωμά του σε βάθος χρόνου. Γιατί είναι εκείνος που απλά αισθάνεται πως κρατά στα χέρια του μια ζωή. Συχνά και πολύ περισσότερες.


Αυτός ο άγνωστος που είναι εκεί όταν τον έχουμε πιο πολύ ανάγκη καλείται μάλιστα να εκτεθεί, κατ’ επιλογή ξανά και ξανά σε ανάλογες εμπειρίες και συναισθήματα και να υποβληθεί σε αντίστοιχες στρεσογόνες καταστάσεις. Το πιο ακραίο ίσως παράδειγμα αυτής της ψυχοφθόρας επανάληψης το ζουν σήμερα όσοι επιχειρούν στη Μεσόγειο προσπαθώντας να σώσουν πρόσφυγες ενώ το έζησαν πιο πριν, με απίστευτη ένταση οι διασώστες που επιχειρούσαν στα ελληνικά νησιά την περίοδο της κορύφωσης των αφίξεων προσφύγων την περίοδο 2015-2016.


Η Χριστίνα Ψαρρά, συντονίστρια ομάδας έρευνας και διάσωσης των Γιατρών Χωρίς Σύνορα την συγκεκριμένη περίοδο στον Μόλυβο της Λέσβου, έζησε εκείνες τις ατελείωτες ημέρες «που όταν ανοιγόσουν στη θάλασσα έβλεπες στο βάθος μαύρα στίγματα. Παντού. Αμέτρητα. Ήταν μικρές βάρκες ή πνευστές σχεδίες».


Ξανά και ξανά άκουγε τις κλήσεις ανθρώπων για βοήθεια. «Δεν καταλάβαινες τι έλεγαν. Σπάνια μιλούσαν αγγλικά. Αλλά ήξερες. Άκουγες την απόγνωση, τα ουρλιαχτά, τα κλάματα» αφηγείται μιλώντας στην HuffPost Greece. Φωνές και κραυγές που όπως λέει «δεν θα ξεχάσω ποτέ». Και όταν το σκάφος της ΜΚΟ προσέγγιζε μια βάρκα οι ήχοι της απελπισίας έδιναν τη θέση τους σε εικόνες απόγνωση. «Σε άρπαζαν από παντού. Ήσουν η σανίδα σωτηρίας τους. Συχνά έβαζαν μπροστά τα παιδιά, τα μωρά. Δεν ήξεραν ποιος πλησίαζε, ούτε τις προθέσεις τους. Τα σήκωναν ψηλά για να τα πάρεις πρώτα αλλά και για να σου δείξουν πως υπάρχει άμεση ανάγκη βοήθειας».






Μια επιτυχής διάσωσης όμως δεν είναι κάτι δεδομένο. Βάρκες ανατρέπονταν. Άψυχα κορμιά συλλέγονταν από τη θάλασσα. Προσπάθειες ανάνηψης δεν απέδιδαν. Και τότε η απελπισία και ο φόβος συνοδευόταν από θάνατο και θρήνο.


Πώς αντέχει κάποιος να ανοίγεται κάθε μέρα στη θάλασσα και να έρχεται αντιμέτωπος ξανά και ξανά με τέτοιες εικόνες; Πως προστατεύεται; Ποιες είναι οι δικλείδες ασφαλείας του, ποιο το ψυχολογικό αποτύπωμα που αφήνουν όλες αυτές οι εμπειρίες και επιστρέφει στην «κανονικότητα» της δική του ζωής;


Πρώτα θα πρέπει να κατανοήσουμε την ιδιαιτερότητα της ίδιας της αποστολής των διασωστών αλλά και των ανθρώπων που έχουν ταχθεί σε αυτή. Όπως λέει η ψυχολόγος και η πρώην υπεύθυνη δραστηριοτήτων ψυχικής υγείας των ΓΧΣ, Αλίκη Μεϊμαρίδου οι άνθρωποι αυτοί «αφενός διακατέχονται από ένα πολύ ισχυρό κίνητρο να προσφέρουν βοήθεια και αφετέρου βλέπουν τις προσπάθειες τους συχνά να ακυρώνονται, να αναιρούνται, να εμποδίζονται εξαιτίας, εν προκειμένω των μεταναστευτικών πολιτικών που εφαρμόζονται. Διακατέχονται συχνά από ένα αίσθημα ματαίωσης».


Ειδικότερα μάλιστα όπως συμπληρώνει η κ.Ψαρρά στην περίπτωση της προσφυγικής κρίσης στην Ελλάδα υπήρχαν και δύο επιπλέον επιβαρυντικοί παράγοντες που γεννούσαν απογοήτευση και θυμό. «Πάντα σε αποστολές διαχείρισης ανθρωπιστικών κρίσεων πχ σε εμπόλεμες ζώνες βιώνεις ένα αίσθημα ματαιότητας των πράξεών. Η κρίσιμη διαφορά εδώ είναι πως αφενός δεν περιμέναμε να βρεθούμε να μπροστά στην κατάσταση που βρήκαμε στα νησιά και κατά δεύτερον όλα αυτά συνέβαιναν στη χώρα μας. Δεν μπορούσα να αποδεχθώ ότι τα πράγματα ήταν τόσο χάλια, πως στις ακτές της Λέσβου βλέπαμε ανθρώπους να πεθαίνουν σε απόσταση λίγων ναυτικών μιλίων από την ακτή. Τα βράδια δεν κοιμόμασταν σε ένα hat σε κάποια εμπόλεμη περιοχή. Ήμασταν στην Ελλάδα, σε μια ευρωπαϊκή χώρα που η πρόσβαση σε υλικούς και ανθρώπινους πόρους…Τίποτα δεν μας είχε προετοιμάσει για κάτι τέτοιο».


Αλίκη Μεϊμαρίδου, ψυχολόγος πρώην υπεύθυνη δραστηριοτήτων ψυχικής υγείας στους Γιατρούς Χωρίς Σύνορα.




Πρόσθετα σε αυτή την άρνηση ή και απόγνωση υπάρχουν τα συναισθήματα που βιώνουν κατά κανόνα οι διασώστες σε τέτοιες επιχειρήσεις. Όπως επισημαίνει η κ.Μεϊμαρίδου οι άνθρωποι αυτοί έρχονται σε επαφή με τον άμεσο κίνδυνο για τις ζωές εκείνων που θέλουν να σώσουν. Είναι μια κατάσταση ψυχοφθόρα, η ψυχολογική πίεση μεγάλη. «Είδαν ανθρώπους νεκρούς να επιπλέουν στη θάλασσα…Έζησαν μια εξαιρετικά τραυματική εμπειρία. Σωματική - αφού οι συνθήκες σπάνια είναι ιδανικές - όσο και ψυχική».


Ο θρήνος είναι ένα από τα βασικότερα συναισθήματα που βαραίνει την ψυχολογία ενός διασώστη αφού βιώνει έντονα την απώλεια εκείνου που δεσμεύτηκε να σώσει. Το γεγονός δε ότι οι επιχειρήσεις έρευνας και διάσωσης είναι πολύωρες και στην περίπτωση του προσφυγικού είχαν μια καθημερινή επανάληψη, γιγαντώνει αυτές τα συναισθήματα. «Θρηνείς για εκείνους που δεν μπόρεσες να βοηθήσεις, που χάθηκαν, για τους γονείς που έχασαν το παιδί τους και έπρεπε να τους παρηγορήσεις...Περιβάλλεσαι από θάνατο και θρήνο», λέει η κ.Ψαρρά.


Και από κοντά έρχονται οι ενοχές, που όσο παράλογο και εάν ακούγεται είναι ένα πολύ κοινό συναίσθημα στους διασώστες σύμφωνα με την ψυχολόγο. «Είναι η ενοχή του επιζήσαντα και είναι κοινή σε αυτούς που διασώθηκαν και στους διασώστες».


Γιατί όμως ενοχές και αμφιβολίες; Είναι η ερώτηση στην κ.Ψαρρά. «Γιατί αν και έχεις κάνει το καλύτερο που μπορούσες πάντα όταν είσαι μέσα σε αυτή την κατάσταση βασανίζεσαι δεν μπορείς παρά να αναρωτιέσαι ”τι άλλο μπορώ να κάνω;»”, ”κάνω αρκετά;”, ”θα ήταν καλύτερά εάν…;”».


Και βέβαια αυτές οι σκέψεις και τα συναισθήματα γίνονται πολύ πιο έντονα γιατί σε τέτοιες καταστάσεις δεν υπάρχει ο απαιτούμενος χρόνος στο άτομο να βιώσουν το τραυματικό γεγονός που έζησαν, να θρηνήσουν. Εδώ ο χρόνος είναι εχθρός, και οι ανάγκες πιεστικές.

Μαζί με τις ενοχές και τον θρήνο, έρχεται όμως από κοντά και ο θυμός. «Κουβαλάς πολύ θυμό, πολύ οργή. Ξεσπάς σε άλλα πράγματα χωρίς λόγο. Και δεν το καταλαβαίνεις καν όταν το κάνεις» λέει η κ.Ψαρρά.





Αν και έχουν περάσει τρία χρόνια πια καθώς καθώς ξαναφέρνει στη μνήμη της εκείνες τις μέρες η φωνή της έχει μια περίεργη ένταση, σαν αυτή ενός ανθρώπου που βιάζεται να κάνει κάτι γιατί είναι ζήτημα ζωής ή θανάτου. Όπως όταν το σκάφος της ΜΚΟ επέστρεψε για ανεφοδιασμό και αλλαγή βάρδιας στο λιμάνι αλλά «όταν έδενε μας έπιανε μία βιασύνη. Θέλαμε να γίνουν όλα γρήγορα. Θέλαμε να είμαστε συνέχεια εκεί».


Πώς λειτουργούσε όμως όταν ήταν «εκεί»; Οι βάρκες, όπως λέει έρχονταν επί μήνες, 24 ώρες το 24ωρο. Το σκάφος των ΓΧΣ ήταν στο νερό μέρα-νύχτα. Οι βάρδιες 12ωρες και όλες εκείνες τις ώρες «που επιχειρείς δεν σκέφτεσαι. Είσαι απλά μια μηχανή. Μαζεύεις στο σκάφος όσους μπορείς να μεταφέρεις, δένεις τη βάρκα τους και τη ρυμουλκείς μέχρι το λιμάνι μαζί με τους υπόλοιπους». Μοιάζει να υπάρχει ένα περίεργο αλλά αναγκαίο για την επιτυχής έκβαση της αποστολής «μπλοκάρισμα» των συναισθημάτων. Απλά αντιδράς. «Μια φορά από μια βάρκα μας πέταξαν, κυριολεκτικά μας πέταξαν στον αέρα, ένα μωρό. Έγινε αυτό μπροστά τα μάτια μου αλλά εκείνη τη στιγμή δεν το κατέγραψα. Δεν συνειδητοποίησα τι είχε γίνει. Μετά αναφέρθηκε από συναδέλφους και πήγα και είδα το βίντεο, γιατί καταγράφουμε τις διασώσεις. Είδα αμέτρητες φορές αυτό το βίντεο. Το έβλεπα ξανά και ξανά αλλά δεν το πίστευα. Ακόμη δεν το πιστεύω».


Και μετά; Παύεις να λειτουργείς σαν «μηχανή»...


«Άνθρωποι οι οποίοι αφιερώνονται σε τέτοιες επιχειρήσεις δυσκολεύονται να δώσουν στον εαυτό τους τον απαιτούμενο χρόνο για να ξεκουραστούν και να επεξεργαστούν τα συναισθήματά τους. Το συναντάμε αυτό γενικότερα στους ανθρώπους έχουν ως βασικό κίνητρό το ”εγώ είμαι εδώ για βοηθήσω όσους περισσότερους μπορώ” τονίζει η κ.Μεϊμαρίδου συμπληρώνοντας πως συχνά δεν αντιλαμβάνονται, δεν θέλουν να δεχθούν πως ήρθε η στιγμή να σταματήσουν για ένα διάστημα. «Και εδώ απαιτείται ένας λεπτός χειρισμός καθώς αυτός που θα επισημάνει αυτή την ανάγκη θα πρέπει να το κάνει με το τρόπο που δεν θα φανεί σαν να αποδομεί την προσπάθεια και την προσφορά του διασώστη».


Όσο δύσκολο και εάν είναι, θεωρείται ως μια «απαραίτητη προληπτική δράση» και ο ρόλος των άλλων μελών της ομάδας είναι σημαντικός όσο και η εναλλαγή του προσωπικού.


Χριστίνα Ψαρρά, συντονίστρια ομάδας έρευνας και διάσωσης στον Μόλυβο της Λέσβου την περίοδο 2015-2016. Σήμερα είναι υπεύθυνη της Μονάδας Επιχειρησιακής Έρευνας των Γιατρών Χωρίς Σύνορα, με έδρα τις Βρυξέλλες.
CHRISTINA PSARRA


Αλίκη Μεϊμαρίδου, ψυχολόγος πρώην υπεύθυνη δραστηριοτήτων ψυχικής υγείας στους Γιατρούς Χωρίς Σύνορα.


«Αυτό που θυμίζουμε πάντα», αναφέρει η κ.Μεϊμαρίδου «είναι το παράδειγμα του αεροπλάνου. Η αεροσυνοδός μας συμβουλεύει πως σε περίπτωση έκτακτης ανάγκης ο ενήλικας πρέπει να φορέσει πρώτος τη μάσκα οξυγόνου και μετά να βοηθήσει τον διπλανό του ακόμη και το παιδί του. Έτσι και οι διασώστες για να είναι πραγματικά χρήσιμοι. Φροντίζεις πρώτα τον εαυτό σου, την ομάδα…Η σωστή λειτουργία της ομάδας και ο ρόλος των μελών της ομάδας είναι καταλυτικοί παράγοντες».



Άλλο όμως να το λες και άλλο να το κάνεις. «Είναι πάρα πολύ δύσκολο να δεχθείς πως πρέπει να κάνεις ένα διάλειμμα. Πώς μπορεί να είσαι αρνητικός, ευερέθιστος, πως χάνεις εύκολα την υπομονή σου, πως είσαι αψύς. Στο λέει ένας άνθρωπος που εμπιστεύεσαι αλλά αυτό δεν το κάνει πιο εύκολο. Πρέπει όμως αν γίνει. Να πάρεις το χρόνο σου, να αντιμετωπίσεις τον εσωτερικευμένο θυμό και την οργή σου να κοιτάξεις κατάματα πράγματα για το εαυτό σου που δεν τα βλέπεις . Θέλει κουράγιο».


Όπως επισημαίνει η κ.Μερϊμαρίδου στους ΓΧΣ, υπάρχουν δομημένες διαδικασίες και ένα σύστημα για να προστατεύεται η ομάδα και ανάλογα με τις συνθήκες και τα προβλήματα που μπορεί να υπάρχουν αναζητείται ο πιο ευέλικτος τρόπος για να λαμβάνουν οι διασώστες - όπως και όλοι οι εργαζόμενοι- την απαραίτητη υποστήριξη, άμεσα αλλά και μακροπρόθεσμα.


Για παράδειγμα όταν υπάρχει ένα κρίσιμο γεγονός ή διαπιστώνονται δυσκολίες στην ομάδα, ο υπεύθυνος αυτής ενημερώνει και υπάρχει μέριμνα για άμεση παρέμβαση σε ομαδικό επίπεδο. «Το σύνολο της ομάδας, που μετείχε σε μια δύσκολη επιχείρηση συγκεντρώνεται και ξεκινά μια διαδικασία υποστήριξης των μελών της. Ή μπορεί να γίνει και με λιγότερα άτομα ενώ υπάρχει η δυνατότητα ένας διασώστης να ζητήσει να μία ατομική συνεδρία. Στις ομαδικές, που είναι υποχρεωτικές, ηγείται ένας ψυχολόγος ή μπορεί να ηγηθεί ένας συντονιστής πεδίου που έχει λάβει ειδική εκπαίδευση για να χειρίζεται τέτοια περιστατικά». Συχνά δε σε ένα κρίσιμο περιστατικό μπορεί να κληθεί να βοηθήσει ένας εξωτερικός ψυχολόγος, που δεν είναι δηλαδή εργαζόμενος στου ΓΧΣ.


ALESSANDRO PENSO/MSF/GREENPEACE


Ακόμη βέβαια και σε μια τέτοια διαδικασία οι ενοχές δεν εγκαταλείπουν τον διασώστη. «Σκέφτεσαι ότι η βάρκα είναι στο λιμάνι και όχι έξω στη θάλασσα όπου υπάρχει ανάγκη. Και νιώθεις πάλι ενοχές. Αλλά είναι επίσης κάτι που πρέπει να γίνει» λέει η κ.Ψαρρά η οποία θυμάται μια τέτοια συζήτηση με ψυχολόγο.



«Θυμάμαι πολλά από όσα μου είπε όπως θυμάμαι και τον θυμό που είχα μέσα μου. Ήμουν οργισμένη. Δεν μπορούσα να δεχθώ ότι άνθρωποι πέθαιναν μπροστά στα μάτια μου. Με βοήθησε να διαχειριστώ όλα όσα ένιωθα και κυρίως να βάλω σε μια σειρά τις σκέψεις μου. Και έχεις πολλά να σκεφτείς σε ένα περιβάλλον όπου οι συνθήκες δεν σου επιτρέπουν να το κάνεις».


Και κάποια στιγμή φεύγεις από αυτό το περιβάλλον. Έχοντας στις βαλίτσες σου όχι μόνο προσωπικά αντικείμενα αλλά και όλο αυτό το ψυχικό φορτίο.


Αναζητάς μια ισορροπία αλλά δεν είναι εύκολο. «Οι δικοί σου προσπαθούν να καταλάβουν αλλά δεν μπορούν. Δεν φταίνε. Απλά δεν μπορούν. Αυτό που βοηθάει είναι ότι μοιραζόμαστε τις σκέψεις μας και όσα νιώθουμε με άτομα που έχουν τα ίδια βιώματα. Μπορεί τώρα, τρία χρόνια μετά η ομάδα που ήταν τότε στη Λέσβο να είναι σκορπισμένη σε 10 γωνιές του πλανήτη αλλά δεν ξεπερνάς ποτέ πλήρως αυτό που βίωσες και ένας άλλος, με τον οποίο το πέρασες μαζί, κουβαλάει το ίδιο φορτίο».


Με τον καιρό βέβαια καταλαβαίνει πως «πρέπει να βρεις έναν τρόπο να διατηρήσεις το υγιές κομμάτι της ζωής σου. Βέβαια ξέρεις πως δεν θα είσαι ποτέ ξανά ο ίδιος. Σου παίρνει καιρό για να απολαύσεις ξανά πράγματα που πριν σε ευχαριστούσαν, απλά πράγματα που είναι όμως η πηγή χαράς της ζωής μας ενώ παράλληλα μπορείς να γίνεις και πολύ κυνικός. Όλα όσα έζησα έρχονται ξανά και ξανά πίσω στο μυαλό μου. Σε ανύποπτο χρόνο και τόπο. Τις πιο απίθανες στιγμές».


Οι τελευταίες κουβέντες της κ.Ψαρρά είναι για πρόσφυγα στη Λέσβο. «Βγήκε από τη βάρκα βρεγμένος. Τα ρούχα του, τα μαλλιά του έσταζαν. Πήγε σε ένα καφενείο, παρήγγειλε ένα ζεστό τσάι. Πλήρωσε και αμέσως μετά ξεκίνησε, βρεγμένος όπως ήταν να περπατάει για τον επόμενο προορισμό του…».



Αναρωτιέμαι πόσο μοιάζει ένας διασώστης, όπως η Χριστίνα Ψαρρά, με αυτόν τον πρόσφυγα.

ΠΗΓΗ:

https://www.huffingtonpost.gr/entry/to-traema-toe-diasoste-anarotethekate-pote-pos-niothei-aetos-poe-sozei-tis-zoes-ton-allon_gr_5d4aa14ee4b01e44e4731301(accessed 5.11.24)

Electrical smiles spark better moods

The debate on whether facial expressions can influence mood rages on, with new work using electrical stimulation adding a fresh twist.

24 October 2024

By Emma Young


Can the physical act of smiling make you feel happier? According to the facial-feedback hypothesis, it can. However, the idea that feedback from facial muscles can influence our emotions has been hotly debated, with research in the field producing mixed results. In 2016, for example, one of the best-known findings in support of the idea — that holding a pen in the mouth, to simulate a smile, made humorous cartoons seem funnier — notoriously failed to replicate.

In 2022, however, research by a global team that included sceptics as well as supporters of the facial-feedback hypothesis led to the conclusion that while holding a pen between your teeth is unlikely to change your mood, there is some evidence that smiling can make you make feel happier. And now, into this mix, comes a new study in Emotion, which found that using electrodes to stimulate some of the muscles involved in forming a smile or a frown affected the participants' mood.

Themis Nikolas Efthimiou at the University of Essex and colleagues studied 58 people, who across a series of trials, had electrical current applied to either their zygomaticus major muscles, which pull up the edges of the mouth, into a smile — or to their depressor anguli oris muscles, which pull the ends of the mouth down, into an 'unhappy' expression.

In some of the trials, the participants were also shown images. These content of these images was either emotionally neutral, or was chosen to match the expression being induced by the electrodes. In other words, sad images were sometimes shown when the ends of the mouth were being pulled down, and happy images were sometimes shown when their mouth was being made to smile. These participants also regularly rated their mood, on a scale from 1 to 100.

When the team analysed the data, they found that the highest levels of positive emotions were reported when the participants' mouths were being pulled into a smile and they were looking at happy pictures. However, even in the absence of positive imagery, stimulation of these smile muscles was still associated with feeling more positive emotion. The researchers also found that the lowest mood ratings accompanied stimulation of the depressor anguli oris 'frown' muscles, especially when the participants were also looking at sad images.

One note of caution about these results is that the size of the effect of muscle stimulation on emotional experience were small. However, the induced muscle movements were themselves small, the team writes. And they did not target all the facial muscles that are recruited for a smile or a frown, only a few around the mouth. If the induced smiles and frowns had been more pronounced, perhaps the effects would have been stronger, they suggest. Further research will be needed to explore this.

Still, these results clearly do contribute to the ongoing debate about whether facial muscle movements themselves have any impact on our emotions. "The finding that changes in felt emotion can be induced through brief and controlled activation of specific facial muscles is in line with the facial feedback hypothesis," the team concludes.

Read the paper in full:
Efthimiou, T. N., Baker, J., Elsenaar, A., Mehu, M., & Korb, S. (2024). Smiling and frowning induced by facial neuromuscular electrical stimulation (fNMES) modulate felt emotion and physiology. Emotion. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001408

SOURCE:

https://www.bps.org.uk/research-digest/electrical-smiles-spark-better-moods(accessed 30.10.24)

Thumps, bumps and bangs: When your dog fears loud noises

An excerpt from 'Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, Or Reactive Dog', by Zazie Todd.

01 October 2024


Some years ago, when we still had both of our previous dogs, Ghost and Bodger, we went for a walk on a sunny afternoon. We ambled at dog pace, letting them sniff here and there and, in Ghost's case, listen for mice in the long, dry grass, cocking his head from side to side. We were partway up the hill on our way home when we heard a distant rumble of thunder. It was still bright sunshine, and the storm was way off on the other side of the valley. Even so, we decided to pick up the pace. Just two minutes later, big drops of rain began to fall, slowly at first, but quickly becoming heavy. The storm had jumped many kilometers all at once. We were hurrying now – not easy, as Ghost's health issues meant he was slow. I was already soaked to the skin when I felt the hairs on the back of my neck prickle and stand up. Just as we approached the top of the hill, there was a blinding flash of light and simultaneously one of the loudest noises I've ever heard.

Time seemed to slow right down. I was aware of light in the sky, approaching fast, and then a finger of blue stretched out to touch the transformer at the top of the hydro pole just meters away. In front of me, Bodger levitated several feet in the air and then landed on the road again. His coat was dripping, and he was pulling hard on the leash, desperate to get home. Behind me, my husband was doing what you're supposed to do when you sense that a storm is so close – get down to the ground. Ghost was standing still, staring at me. Even he looked startled.

"We have to get home," I said.

And then we set off, not at a full run, because Ghost couldn't manage it, but moving as fast as we could towards home. The road was running with water. I held on to Bodger's leash for dear life because I didn't want him to escape in the middle of a storm. Holding Bodger back, splashing through what was now a stream, encouraging Ghost to move faster, I was afraid of another bolt of lightning. The last two hundred meters felt like ten kilometers. Finally, we were home safe, scared, and sodden.

The next few times I left the house on foot, it felt like the sky could no longer be trusted and might smite me at any moment. Bodger seemed to feel the same, only worse. Over the next few days, he was reluctant to go outside in the dark. It took patience and many, many pieces of deli meats to get him to go out and pee at night. For weeks after, if it was even slightly cloudy, he was not interested in a walk. I can't say I blame him. Being almost hit by lightning was one of the most terrifying moments of my life.
Recognising a fear of loud noises

Fear of loud noises is the most common fear in pet dogs, affecting between a quarter and half of dogs, depending on the study. The sounds of thunder, fireworks, and gunshots are upsetting for many dogs, but any loud sound – even routine domestic noises like the vacuum cleaner – can upset some dogs. In one study, 25 percent of dog guardians said their dog was afraid of loud noises. But in follow-up interviews with a subset of the participants, it turned out that half of the dogs were afraid of loud noises. The most common responses to noises were trembling or shaking (43%), barking (38%), and seeking out people (35%). Perhaps surprisingly, some people who said their dogs trembled when there were fireworks, or sought out people in response to a sudden noise, nonetheless said their dog was not afraid of loud noises. This suggests that some people don't recognize the signs of their dog's fear, which is a problem because it means they don't do anything about it. In fact, less than a third of dog guardians had sought advice for their dog's fears. Unfortunately, fear of loud noises does not go away on its own.

A study of over 13,700 pet dogs in Finland puts the prevalence of sound sensitivities at 32 percent, and fear of fireworks in particular at 26 percent. The scientists suggest that genetics are one factor, and that breeders could help by not breeding from animals with known fears and anxieties. At the same time, they stress the importance of socialization. Positive early experiences can go a long way towards helping dogs cope with loud noises. This is also the finding of a study that has similar ballpark figures of 20.5 percent of dogs afraid of fireworks and 30.9 percent afraid of storms. Dogs who had been to a dog training class were less likely to be afraid of fireworks. However, it's not known if this is because people who take their dog to training class are more likely to be clued up on dog behavior, or if the classes included prevention exercises. Similarly, another study found that dogs who had been to puppy class were less likely to be afraid of noises; however, it also found that gradual exposure to sounds was one of the things least likely to be included in the puppy class curriculum.

Taken together, these studies show that if your dog is afraid of loud noises, you are definitely not alone. A number of approaches can help. The sooner these techniques are implemented, the easier it will be to make a difference, as every time the dog is subjected to the experience can make things worse. If your dog has spent many years cowering every time they hear fireworks, expect it to take some time to resolve the issue. When a fear of loud noises develops in an older dog, see your vet to rule out any medical issues.

One study looked for signs that might distinguish a dog simply being afraid of loud noises, from a dog being afraid of loud noises because they were in pain. Later onset of the fear was one sign, as dogs in pain were typically four years older than the fearful dogs without pain. Another sign was that the fear quickly generalized, so that, for example, the dog also became afraid of the situation in which the loud noises had occurred, no longer wanted to go out in the car, or became afraid of other dogs. The dogs in the study were examined for musculoskeletal issues such as hip dysplasia. When the dog was in pain, they were prescribed painkillers, and the dog's guardian was given advice on how to manage the dog to avoid making the pain worse. An individual behavior-modification plan was given for all dogs, and all improved—with the exception of one dog deemed to be in pain whose owner declined pain meds.

Another reason to see your vet about fear of loud noises is that in many cases psychoactive medication can help. Your vet may prescribe long-term medication. Or, if an event known to include fireworks is approaching – a national holiday like the Fourth of July, Halloween, or Bonfire Night (Guy Fawkes) – they may prescribe short-term medication to help your dog get through. I asked Dr. Rachel Szumel, a small-animal veterinarian in South Lake Tahoe, California, when to consider seeing your vet about medications if your dog is afraid of loud noises.

"Now. Yesterday. Right away," she said. "Because we know that noise phobias are notoriously difficult to treat with behavioral modification alone. So, if they're showing any signs of fear, you should be talking to your veterinarian about medications that help lower their sensitivity to noise so that you can start the behavioral modification part of things. If the dog is over threshold, no amount of chicken is going to make them love thunderstorms. But if they are on [a medication like] Xanax, that chicken actually does make those thunderstorms a little bit better. You can get a lot further with medications onboard."

Dr. Szumel also stressed that there can be times when pain is a contributing factor in fear, and that's another reason to see your veterinarian.
Training dogs not to fear noises

It was a hot and humid evening after another sunny day. Bodger and I set out for a short walk. But we only got halfway up the drive when we heard two loud bangs from a neighbor's property. It sounded like bear bangers set off to make a black bear go away. But it didn't matter what it was. Bodger immediately turned to run home, and I, as the one holding the leash, had no choice but to be dragged along by him. He was a big, strong dog, and so scared that nothing would stop him. I would have liked to offer him a treat, but it wasn't an option until we got back in the house. Then I gave him some of his favorite treats and put his leash back in the drawer, hoping to try the walk again in half an hour or so.

The approach I was using was counterconditioning: teaching Bodger to associate the loud bang with something great. I carried his favorite sausage treats in my bait bag and reserved them for when there was a bang. Research on what helps dogs with fear of loud noises shows how important it is to do something, rather than to wait and see, because doing nothing is associated with the problem getting worse. This research also shows that the approach I was taking with Bodger – known as ad hoc counterconditioning, because I was responding to sounds as they happened to occur, rather than arranging for them to happen – can be very successful. In fact, 70.8 percent of people who used it said that it helped. This is good to know, because, traditionally, approaches to fear of loud noises have focused on desensitization, a gradual exposure training. Desensitization works too, but it relies on a controlled environment. In real life, it's easy to suddenly find yourself in a situation where loud noises are unexpected and unpredictable. In those situations, if you don't do counterconditioning, you are undermining the desensitization process you had so carefully planned.

According to this research, relaxation training and preventive exercises also help dogs with sound sensitivity. Overall, this study showed that both puppies and adult dogs benefited from some kind of training. And given that dogs who were or were not being trained were equally likely to be on medication for their fear of noises, the research suggests that training, not just medication, does benefit dogs.

In fact, less than half of the people in the study (43%) had done any training to either prevent or resolve their dog's fear of loud noises. But amongst people whose dogs were afraid of fireworks, 70 percent had sought help, commonly from a trainer, veterinarian, the internet, or a book. And most people said their dog recovered from the fright within half an hour or an hour, or even right away, although some dogs took several days.

If you want to do desensitization, be sure to set it up very carefully. There are plenty of apps, CDs, and YouTube videos designed to help with this kind of training. Expect it to work better for things like fireworks and the sound of a car backfiring than for thunder, which is accompanied by atmospheric changes that you can't re-create. Listen to the sounds on a headset first (so your dog can't hear them), so you know what to expect. Set the volume super, super low. The aim is to have the volume so low that your dog barely even notices it – a volume much lower than you'd expect. As well, you should be prepared to do counterconditioning to those super quiet noises. This means setting up your treats well in advance. Once you start to play the sound, you can run to the fridge or the dog's cookie jar to get the treats. The open bar–closed bar technique is great here: once the noises start happening, so do the treats, but once the noises stop, treats stop too.

While it may be tempting to do this training at the same time each day say, 5 p.m., when you happen to be around and preparing dinner it works better if it happens at random times. You don't want to associate a specific time of day with the noises. You want to make it really clear that the (now very quiet) noises predict the treats, and nothing else predicts the treats. Over time, you can very gradually increase the volume of the recording.

But unfortunately, while training helps, many people make mistakes. I've been guilty of these training mistakes too. If you notice even the slightest sign of stress from your dog while attempting desensitization, stop the noises right away. And still offer food to the dog, because even if the desensitization part went wrong, you still want to get the counterconditioning part right. It's very common for people to play the sounds too loud and accidentally terrify their dog.

A common mistake with counterconditioning is to get the order of events wrong. If you know that sounds are going to happen and you reach for your treat before they occur, your training is not going to work the way you intend it to. This situation is called "backwards conditioning," and dog trainer Kate LaSala of Rescued by Training sees it often with her clients.

"Instead of teaching that fireworks predict chicken, we're getting chicken predicts fireworks, because you're doing it backwards," she says. Another time she sees this happen is when people are using a pressure wrap, such as the ThunderShirt, with their dog, to help calm them by applying gentle, constant pressure. "As humans, we have the benefit of knowing it's the Fourth of July or it's New Year's Eve. I know at 10 o'clock people are going to start shooting off fireworks. So we anticipate that this is going to happen and we prepare and say, 'Oh, I'd better put the ThunderShirt on the dog because I know they're about to shoot off fireworks.' That can actually backfire, because then the ThunderShirt becomes a tip-off to the dog that fireworks are about to happen, and the shirt itself can become panic-inducing for the dog."

Like Dr. Szumel, LaSala stresses the importance of seeing a vet in case your dog is in pain, or in case medication is recommended. One of the times when clients especially struggle, she says, is when the dog is too anxious to take food. "If you have a dog who's really over threshold and they just are so anxious and over threshold that they won't even consider taking food, it's really difficult to make progress in training, because they've got bigger fish to fry. They're just so panicked. The world is exploding around them, and the last thing they want to think about is your chicken and cheese. So getting that anxiety down to a manageable level where they don't think the world is ending around them is not just the most humane thing to do, it's the best thing to do for training."

One thing is certain: as with so many other fears and anxieties, seeking help from a professional is a sensible idea.
Coping in the short term

In some summers, many bears ambled through the neighborhood where we live, and therefore many bear bangers were set off to frighten them away. This wasn't good for Bodger's nerves, but it did provide lots of training opportunities. It became a recurring theme on sultry summer nights. Bodger and I would set out on a walk. Sometimes we would get halfway down the street, sometimes we would not even leave the driveway. Then we'd hear a loud bang. Bodger would turn to run and I'd follow, offering treats that he would not eat till we got safely indoors. But there was progress, of sorts; he was not running quite so fast, and I no longer felt like he was going to pull me over. It was encouraging, and showed the training was working even though it was only ad-hoc, whenever loud noises occurred.

After a while, something interesting happened. He would hear the bang, I would grab some treats from my bait bag, and he would eat them hurriedly. Then we'd run home.

Training takes time, maybe months or longer. What I was doing in those moments was training, along with giving Bodger a choice the choice to run home, where he felt safer. So what can you do if there isn't time, and you know that a bout of fireworks is just hours or days away—say, that the Fourth of July or Bonfire Night is coming up fast, or that there's a thunderstorm in the weather forecast? One thing is to make sure you know that your dog can't escape. It's not unusual for dogs left in the yard to be so terrified of thunder or fireworks that they find a way out and run away in a complete panic (even though they've never escaped before). So keep them safe by keeping them indoors. And, as always, make sure your dog has both a microchip (that can't be removed) and a collar tag, so that if they do get loose and are found, the finder can identify your dog and call you directly. Also plan ahead by taking your dog out to toilet well ahead of the start of any loud noises.

Make sure your dog has somewhere safe to hide during the noisy event. In a thunderstorm, that's not in the bathroom next to a pipe, even though that may be where they would like to pick because it's the smallest space. Remember that lightning can transmit through the ground, and that if it strikes the house, the electrical current can travel along the plumbing. It's the same reason that you shouldn't take a shower during a thunderstorm. The hiding place should be in a room with the drapes closed to block out the light from fireworks or lightning, or in a basement, which will block some of the noise too. If your dog happens to be cratetrained, their crate might make a good safe space, and you can use blankets to block out the light.

Masking the sound is another good idea, but it can be hard to do a good job of this. Simply turning the TV on does not work so well, according to dog writer Eileen Anderson, who also happens to have a background in acoustics.7 She recommends using something with a low frequency for acoustic masking, because those low frequencies will help drown out the low rumbles. She says the best options are to use a fan or to play random noise (especially something called brown noise) through your speakers; running the dishwasher or washing machine, or putting a pair of sneakers in the dryer, are other good options. The masking noise needs to have some low frequencies to do the best job. At other times – for example, when you want to mask the sound of workers in your house – you can use an audiobook. But it's important to know that the masking sound isn't something your dog is afraid of, so pick something they know and like. In other words, only play loud rock music if you know already that your dog is okay with it!

And remember that it's fine to comfort your dog if that's what they'd like. Some dogs will be too terrified to take food or to want comfort, but if they will take treats, that's great, and if they seem to want to be petted, then you should pet them.



On some of the last summer evenings before Bodger was taken ill, we made real progress with his fear of loud noises. When we heard a bear banger, he'd turn as if to head home, then stop and look at me expectantly. "I'll have my treats, please," he was saying. And so I gave him some of his favorite sausage treats. Then we didn't even have to run home. We could walk, slowly. Sometimes he would even change his mind and we could turn and head back out again. He trusted me that he had the choice to go home, and he was no longer so terrified of the loud bangs. We'd gone from what felt like a near-death experience with thunder to seeing bear bangers as a signal for a snack. Counterconditioning may take time, but it works.



"For us, with dogs, it's often love at first sight. But not all dogs immediately love us back. Fearful dogs need patience, time, and empathy as they encounter new things and people in the world.

I wish that people would prioritize relationship-building over training. This means ensuring your dog feels safe. Put this need over your needs to cuddle, walk, or show the dog off to your friends. Help the dog create positive associations with you. These associations are more important than learning to sit or fetch. Show the dog that your presence predicts something wonderful: lots of treats, a game or toy, anything you are sure the dog loves. Be lavish with treats and toys and fun. Be patient as the dog learns to associate you with good stuff, and eventually is happy to see you coming. Use this time to reflect on your dog's needs and commit to meeting those needs. A great relationship with you is your dog's gateway to the rest of the world."

—ELISSA ORLANDO, MPA, CTC, dog trainer at Dog EducatedZazie Todd, PhD, is an animal behaviour expert and award-winning writer who loves nothing better than helping people resolve issues with their pets. She covers dog training and behaviour, cat behaviour and training, animal welfare, the relationship between people and their pets, and books about companion animals
Adapted with permission of the publisher from the book Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, Or Reactive Dog, written by Zazie Todd and published by Greystone Books in October 2024. Available wherever books are sold.

SOURCE:

https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/thumps-bumps-and-bangs-when-your-dog-fears-loud-noises(accessed 30.10.24)

Feeling Better About Our Bodies

Content note. We discuss how we might feel better about our bodies. So we touch on the social messages we get about bodies and this includes us talking about fatphobia, diets, ‘health’, disablism, but we don’t go into much detail. It’s a long one — sorry about that.



Around the time of year that we recorded this podcast – early Spring – it’s easy to feel bad about our bodies. Cultural scripts suggest that we should overindulge and hibernate over the Winter, but that after new year we should be follow resolutions to diet and ‘get in shape’ for the summer ‘beach body’.



The media doesn’t help. At the moment there are a number of billboard adverts and makeover TV shows focusing on weight-loss and ‘improving appearance’. Particularly problematic are the links that are made between looking a certain way and ‘health’ and ‘fun’. Not only are we meant to have a certain appearance in order to be attractive and sexy, but also we’re blamed and shamed for being ‘unhealthy’ if we don’t conform to cultural beauty ideals, as well as often internalising the idea that caring about ‘looks’ is a fun and pleasurable thing to do, and to do otherwise would mean being a killjoy.

But the beauty ideal is incredibly limited. Looking around at the aspirational bodies that surround us they’re overwhelmingly young, thin, white, ‘flawless’, non-disabled, and gendered to match the ideals of rugged masculinity and delicate femininity, and a good deal of wealth is required to buy all the products necessary for maintaining such an ideal. We scientifically estimate on the podcast that 97% of people will not match these ideals for one reason or another, and all of us will move away from them as we age of course.
Love your body?

Most of us are likely to feel bad about our bodies if we’re surrounded by such narrow body ideals that we can’t possibly match up to. But what can we do about this? There has been a move among some people to replace the ‘change your body’ message of so much advertising and other media with a ‘love your body’ message.

This is pretty risky because it still locates the problem in us as individuals – rather than wider society. It’s bloody hard to love your body when the whole world is implicitly – or explicitly – telling you not to. If we receive the message that we should be able to easily love our bodies, that gives us yet another thing to feel bad about.

There’s a real tension when we live in a very individualising culture to know how to address things like this without continuing to individualise our struggles. At megjohnandjustin.com, we find the following diagram helpful – for all kinds of things – to think through how they work on multiple levels, and how we might address them on all those levels too. We can’t just try to relate differently to our body on an individual level if the people around us, our communities, and wider culture simply stay the same.

In the podcast we explore what we might do at each of these levels:Society – We could notice the images around us and be critical of them. We could confront fat-shaming remembering that it’s actually poverty, type of diet, and fitness that relate to health – not fatness; that being ‘underweight’ is generally more risky health-wise than being ‘overweight’; that these categories are based on an old model of measurement that doesn’t relate to how bodies are these days; and that shaming people about their bodies makes everything far worse – not better – for them. We could engage in body-related activism. We could seek out different subcultures that incorporate more diversity of bodies or expand our ideas of what is beautiful.
Communities – We could deliberately share materials that are critical of body ideals, or which incorporate a wider range of bodies. We could curate our social media accounts to avoid body-shaming from others, and to put out different messages ourselves, including filters and content notes. We could find communities which are trying to cultivate different ways of engaging with bodies. We could deliberately follow communities online which challenge narrow body ideals, including fat activists, disability activists, dwarf community activists, age activists, etc.
Interpersonal Relationships – We could keep an eye on whether we shame people in our lives for aspects of their bodies or bodily practices and try to stop doing that. We could have consent conversations about how we like to be treated in relation to our bodies, and what we find difficult from others.
Yourself – We could try to incorporate more embodied experiences into our lives where we feel ‘at one’ with our bodies rather than separate to them and scrutinising of them. These can include activities where the body is in motion, being alone, being in nature, etc.


Acceptance and Change

The ‘love your body’ message risks replacing the idea that we should always change our bodies to fit beauty ideals with the idea that we should always accept our bodies as they are and that changing them in any way is a bad thing that’s always about conforming to cultural norms.

Actually each person needs to find their own way of navigating the possibilities of change and acceptance in relation to their bodies (and in other areas). For example bodily changes of various kinds can be extremely helpful in decreasing physical pain and discomfort and/or improving mental health and/or opening up new possibilities in our lives.

Many trans people, disabled people, people with chronic health conditions, fat people, and others face a constant barrage of messages from one group of people telling them they should make changes to their bodies, while another group of people tell them they shouldn’t and that they should accept their bodies as they are. It’s not for anybody else to tell us how we should relate to our bodies, and – as a culture – we should help everyone to navigate these complex decisions about change/acceptance and support them through the various options instead of telling people what they should or should not do with their bodies.

© Meg-John Barker & Justin Hancock, 2018

SOURCE:

https://megjohnandjustin.com/bodies/feeling-better-bodies/(accessed 22.10.24)

Want to play better? Try changing your avatar's gender

New study finds that from NPC kills to exploration, gamers' avatar gender affects various in-game behaviours.

07 October 2024

By Emily Reynolds


If you've played any recent videogames, chances are at some point you'll have spent an inordinate amount of time customising your character. Tweaking clothing, facial features, and body builds can add new layers of enjoyment to the gaming experience, and help us connect to the characters that we (at least in some series) play a large role in creating.

As well as changing how your avatar looks, many games now also give the option of selecting your character's gender. As Kim Szolin and colleagues from Nottingham Trent University explore in a new paper published in Entertainment Computing, this particular customisation choice can actually change how we behave in-game – both for better, and for worse.

This study involved 353 adult participants, most recruited from video game forums. Everyone who took part had played one particular well-loved title: Fallout: New Vegas, an open-world roleplaying game in which players act as a courier trying to survive in an apocalyptic landscape. Most participants (276) identified as male, and the rest as female (77).

Participants answered questions based on a save file from a previous game of Fallout to understand how they played and with what avatar. Firstly, they shared their own gender identity and the gender of their avatar, as well as how long they had spent playing. Next, they indicated how many quests they had completed; how many locations they had discovered; and how many non-player characters (NPCs) and enemies they had killed.

Analyses uncovered several interesting relationships between the players' gender, avatar gender, and in-game behaviour. In terms of quest completion, male players with a male avatar completed an average of 76 quests, compared to 66 quests when playing with a female avatar. For women, however, avatar gender had no impact on how many quests they completed.

When looking at the number of in-game locations discovered by players, female players with a female avatar found 30% more locations than those with a male avatar. In this instance, though, there was no significant difference in location discovery rates for male players playing as either gender.

There was no significant interaction between player gender and avatar gender on the number of NPCs and enemies killed – though perhaps counter to expectations, those with female avatars had a higher number of NPC kills than those with male avatars, regardless of their own gender. Men were more likely to kill NPCs than women.

Congruence between the gender of a player's avatar and their own identity seemed to improve game performance in several areas, chiming with other research suggesting that a visual similarity to an avatar can improve gameplay. The team suggests that increased identification with a character may be the driver behind this, engaging the player more deeply and improving their gameplay.

As for why female avatars had a higher NPC kill rate, the team argues that this may be to do with the game's "absence of physical world virtual users to reinforce societal expectations of gender and aggression." So, while in the real world women may be seen as less aggressive than men, a world in which gender roles are more regularly less fixed and binary may give players the freedom to engage in less stereotypical aggressive behaviour.

What wasn't covered in the study was gender identity in a broader sense. The team didn't explore whether participants were cisgender, transgender, or otherwise gender diverse — factors which may influence the exact ways players experience, relate to, or embody their avatars. The reasoning behind choosing different gendered avatars was also not probed, but future explorations of this could open up further interesting insights.

Read the paper in full:
Szolin, K., Kuss, D. J., Nuyens, F. M., & Griffiths, M. D. (2025). The Proteus effect in Fallout: New Vegas: Investigating gender-conforming behaviours in videogames. Entertainment Computing, 52, 100765–100765. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.entcom.2024.100765

SOURCE:

https://www.bps.org.uk/research-digest/want-play-better-try-changing-your-avatars-gender(accessed 16.10.24)