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February
7, 2008
Verbal First Aid
Interview
with Judith Simon Prager, co-author of The
Worst is Over
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Mike
Carruthers:
When someone is in pain (physical or emotional pain), you can
help by using verbal first aid.
Judith Simon Prager:
There are words that you can say in those situations that can
mean the difference between pain and comfort and can even mean
the difference between life and death.
Judith Simon
Prager, co-author of the book The
Worst is Over says, that phrase "the worst is over"
is the perfect example of verbal first aid.
When you say,
"The worst is over, we've called 911 - the ambulance is
on the way, and because the ambulance is on the way you can
begin to allow yourself now to take a nice easy breath."
Everything changes - the whole body changes because there's
a realization that that is both true and calming.
The key to verbal
first aid, says Judith, is gaining rapport with the person in
distress.
Rapport means,
"I hear you where you are; I know what you're feeling."
Another good
example is how to give verbal first aid to someone who is having
an asthma attack.
What we tell
people to do is to stand right before them - to even take their
hand, look them in the eyes and begin breathing with them. You
say, "I can see that it's very difficult for you to catch
your breath and if you breathe along with me you can begin to
notice that it gets easier and easier." I gave this training
to a group of pediatricians and the doctor said the first child
she saw was having an asthma attack - she used this protocol
and within that instant the child had come back to normal breathing.
At somethingyoushouldknow.net
I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.
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