Lorraine Crockford

The study of trauma incident response is a topic of relevance for research as the world faces the unforeseeable in the Covid-19 pandemic. First responders and those on the front lines attempt to navigate both the Lifeworld and the Deathworld of occupational exposure to trauma. The chapter presented is one based on a Schützian Lifeworld study (Crockford 2019) of six first responders excavating a deeper understanding to the phenomena of unprocessed, unaddressed trauma exposure; a factor that correlates to first responders’ high rates of completed suicides, which are 10 times that of the general public (Heyman et al. 2018). The chapter considers the concept of the “The Stranger” (Schütz 1976, p. 91-105) in relation to first responders who purposely run toward trauma and dominate that realm; the affects from trauma exposure internalize as habituated patterns, a means for coping through the many and unsurmountable experiences they endure. Through managing chaotic situations, an emerging theme of coping in the aftermath of trauma exposure was to hold a sense of culpability and selfdoubt. Emotional repression emerged as a way to cope in a Lifeworld where they are never off duty. This chapter draws on the first responder experience, in particular, to convey how the Lifeworld and Deathworld is negotiated in a type of hypervigilance and a splitting off of the emotional self for survival.