COPING WITH DISTURBED PRISONERS

I wrote the psychological effects of being in a prison which prison officers felt psychological disturbance. Now, what can we do to help the disturbed prisoners ? In my articel section i will look at the most common forms of psychological disturbance in prison.

Anxiety
Anxiety is a response to some kind of stress. Stress may cause : bullying, worry over afuture decision about parole, movement to anather institution or involvement in illegal activities.Common symptoms of anxiety :headsaches migrainedizzines blurred visionblushing tremblingtwitching muscle spasmsdifficulty in breathing difficulty in swallowingaching muscles in neck, back,or legs heart palpitationsheart skipping beat thumping shest painsstomach shurning felling sickindigestion butterflies in stomachtiredness weak knees'jelly' legs sweatingfeeling the need to pas water frequently
So you can see from the list symptoms are very varied an could be caused by physical illnesses. If someone is found to be anxious like this, what can you do ? You do the following advice :

1. Breathe slowly and evenly.

2. Sit down if possible and gradually let go of physical tension in :a. shoulders (full them and back and then let go)b. chest (take a deep breath and let it out slowly)c. stomach (clench the stomach muscles to make them hard and ten let go)d. legs ( stretch them out and then let them flop)e. arms (bend your arms at the elbow, pulling your hands up to your shoulders andthen go again)f. hands ( stretch out the five fingers and then let them relax)

3. Keep breathing slowly and evenly. Reassure the prisoner that they will be all right.

DepressionPrison officers need to be alert to the tell-tale signs of depression so that they can send the prisoners for a thorough medical or psycological examination. The depression signs :- feeling miscrable-feeling listless or lacking in energy-lack of interest in usual activities'being irritable-sleeping poorly-losing interest in food-losing weight-feeling guilty over things that are not particully important-feeling useless-feeling hopeless about things-thinking that things will never get any better-saying that there is no point in carrying on-talking about to die

Prison officers can help :
1. Listen carefully. try to show that you are interested in the prisoner's difficulty and that youare sympathetic.

2. Try to give hope to prisoners. Suggest ways in which things might be improved. Do notpromise anything that you can not be sure of, but try to think of ways in which the situationcould be helped.

3.If there are pratical problems that can be solved.

4. Encourage the prisoner to keep up their activities.

5. Do not tell the prisoner just to snap out of it, or that they are stupid to worry or getdepressed over the way things are. You may think that prisoner is miserable unnecessarily.

Suicide attemps
Suicide attemps are complicated issues.The suggestions of handling it :
1. Show understanding (use listening skills)
2. Try to give hope that there will be a solution
3. Think of any practical suggestions that might hepl.
4. Keep the prisoner in contact with staff or other prisoners.
5.Keep the prisoner occupied.