Stress In Banking Getting Back To Normal

by Chet Sigafoos, Ph.D.

The last column talked about the normal reactions to a bank robbery situation. The paranoid feelings, the inability to sleep, the loss of a quality, intimate relationship, the feeling that people were staring at you. You want to turn anywhere you can for help-you feel so helpless. But turning to drugs or alcohol will only give you other problems.

You have now reached a point where you are frightened to go to work, you are apprehensive of every strange customer who comes in the door, you are afraid to leave the building at night and go home alone. You fear you are losing control of your life.

To help you during this post-robbery phase, you need to let your mind go back to what happened during the robbery. You need to focus on what you were able to do during the robbery. You made it through "it". You're alive. Most people focus on the robbery, and the realization that they were in a dangerous situation. You need to go further than that. What you need to do is also focus on what you did after the robbery was in progress, during the survival stage of a trauma. Even while the robbery was going on, you did what needed to be done. In other words, you "responded." And the fact that you're alive says you responded correctly.

Secondly, the human system wants to survive. It has a built in survival mechanism that finds a way for the body to keep on ticking, even when it seems it should stop. You used this mechanism during the bank robbery, but yet you didn't focus on this after "it" was over. Refocus your attention on your abilities to respond under pressure. A pressure that is very difficult to respond to. Yet, you gave the right response. (You know-the response that doesn't get you shot.)

Refocusing your attention on what you did during the latter part of the bank robbery, and how you were able to respond under the type pressure you had, is an important element in handling the effects of stress in the future. You will realize that you have control over your feelings, over your reactions. Once you do this, you'll be able to sleep better, handle your coworkers and family's concern better, and feel better about yourself.

Bank robberies are not the end of the world. Unfortunately in this day and age, there are those out there that do anything for money. Just because, in their crime, they take control over your life, doesn't mean that you've lost control of your life.

If you've been held up, what you need to do is refocus your attention on what you were able to do during the hold-up, rather than what you weren't able to do.

The human species is a very adaptable, adjustable breed. Unfortunately bank robberies have become a part of our lives. We can adjust to these things. We can adjust to these "its" if we don't allow "it" to rule and ruin our lives.

Focus on what you did when "it" happened, not on what you could have done. You'll then be taking firm steps back to a "normal" healthy, happy life.

This is our last regular column from Chet. He has taken a position in Phoenix that is absorbing all of his "spare" time. We wish him every success in his new endeavor-and hope we may be able to talk him into a "Guest Appearance" in this space every so often. Dr. Sigafoos is available for consultation in instances of hold-up trauma. If you have need of his services, contact the BANKERS' HOTLINE office and we will pass on your request.

Copyright © 1991 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 2, No. 5, 6/91