When a person panics, it seems like all the spotlights are focused on him.
and the whole world lives only to find it.
Erich Maria Remarque, "Night in Lisbon"
Panic. I am an eyewitness.
was discussed in social psychology at the university . The professor said then that it is difficult to study it. It is difficult for a psychologist to abstract and remain an observer, and not to succumb to the mood of the masses. - Yeah, I thought, I would abstract myself.
I witnessed this phenomenon just recently. The term "panic" comes from Greek mythology. The god Pan was the patron of shepherds, pastures, and flocks. When he was angry, the flocks went crazy and rushed into the abyss.
In terms of scale, panic can be individual, group (from two or three people to several hundred) and mass (thousands or more). In terms of depth of coverage, it can be mild, medium and full . In mild panic, for example, in response to a sharp loud sound, a car horn at a pedestrian crossing, when a person walks on a green light, muscles tense up, critical thinking is preserved.
At medium criticality decreases, fear increases, awareness of what is happening is deformed under external influence. As an example, the recent situation in Kiev with the allegedly closing gas stations caused kilometer-long queues for gasoline. A friend of my husband's colleague called in the morning and, referring to a very reliable source, said that in an hour all the gas stations would close. Apparently, the source told not only us, the information spread quite quickly, very soon there were huge queues at all the gas stations, motorists filled up their cars, all the canisters in the Epicenter construction market were bought up...
Complete panic occurs when mortal danger arises. A person ceases to control his behavior, ethics, morality, rationality recede into the background. People can rush about chaotically, criticality is absent (the sinking of the Titanic).
The reasons are divided into three groups - physiological, psychological and socio-psychological. Physiological prerequisites are everything that physically weakens people, such as insomnia, hunger, intoxication, depression. Psychological - such as sudden fear, awareness of helplessness in the face of danger, strong surprise, uncertainty, etc. Social and psychological reasons are, first of all, a deficit or excess of information.
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This is how it was in the first weeks after the Chernobyl accident, when there was no information at all. The first official information: "An accident has occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, there are no victims or damage." The question from the average person to this information was: "How many kilometers is it to Chernobyl?" Having received the answer "90-100", the person would soothingly say: "That's nonsense". But other information was spreading from unofficial sources. The authorities were angered by the story of a group of Englishmen who left their clothes (contaminated with radiation) at the plane's steps, changed into new clothes and flew away. This was considered panic-mongering and exaggeration of a "non-existent" problem. In order to prevent panic, the authorities did not cancel either the sporting events or the traditional May Day demonstration... Two weeks later, "continuous panic" began (a term coined by Ukrainian psychologist V.O. Molyako ), when people filled train stations, airports, bus stations, and came from other cities to pick up relatives in order to "take them" to remote, safe settlements. |
When an unfamiliar or very strong stimulus appears, a person perceives the situation as a crisis. A decision must be made quickly, and this causes additional fear. People around react to the person's condition, their reaction feeds the fear.
February 20, 2014 ... People in Ukraine are emotionally shaken by the socio-political situation. Disinformation is coming in - "as a very good friend of mine said, someone there in (name of institution)... , all gas stations may be closed within three hours. Also, bridges connecting the left and right banks of the city of Kiev may be closed, entrances to the capital may be closed. In order to prevent cases of looting, grocery stores may be closed."
The seed of doubt fell on prepared soil. People's first reaction was shock, the situation was assessed as a crisis. Mass panic of medium intensity arose, supported by unconfirmed information in the mass media. Many retained some criticality, but external influence "pressed". Some people understood that panic was starting, gasoline and food were enough. Gradually, the information infection worked and they still ran to the stores and bought "in reserve" unnecessary groceries, stewed meat, sugar, vinegar, refueled, left the city, etc.
We are the Roman Empire. If we lose face, the empire will lose its head. Now is not the time to panic! Let's have breakfast first. And the empire will feel better.
Albert Camus, "Caligula"
In my observations, it is extremely difficult not to succumb to mass panic . The first emotion that arises is a feeling of fear, on the basis of which panic can begin. This is very human, it is normal , and you should not blame yourself for weakness. Fear is just a natural reaction of the body to external stimuli, which is provided to us by the instinct of self-preservation. A normal person cannot be completely afraid of anything.
Fear can turn into panic. You can think through a difficult situation and find the best solutions by doing something you control, for example, doing something with your hands (cleaning the apartment, sorting out the closet, washing dishes, etc.), meditation. It helps in such situations to be aware of what is happening, to be involved, to follow my brother Alex's old rule: "when you don't know what to do, do what you can do."