Armed Robbery, a Bank Teller, and Trauma, Essay Example

Imagine for a moment that you are a bank teller in the downtown branch of a national bank. It’s a bright and warm morning as you enter the bank and take your position behind the teller’s window. A few minutes later, a man walks in the bank, goes up to your window, smiles, and draws back his jacket to reveal a .45 caliber Smith & Wesson handgun. He then reaches inside of his jacket, takes out a note, and hands it to you. In so many words, the note says “I have a gun. Give me all of your cash in fifty dollar bills or I’ll blow your head off.”

You instantly freeze up, scared out of your wits, and as your shaky hand reaches inside the cash drawer, you sense that this might be your last day alive. You then take the money, put it in an envelope, and hand it to the robber. He smiles again, turns, and walks out of the bank. Moments later, the bank alarm goes off, and before you know it, the bank is filled with police officers with guns drawn. Your boss then comes up to you with some comforting remarks and tells you to go home for the rest of the day.

Once you get home, you sit down and think about what happened at the bank only a few hours ago. You then begin to ponder a very important question–is this event going to drastically change my life? The answer, although you do not want to admit it, is definitely yes. After making yourself some coffee, you think back about what the bank manager once told you about how to respond to an armed robbery attempt or hold-up at the bank–always remain calm and do whatever the robber tells you to do. Do not show any fear. Always let the robber see your hands. Don’t ever try to talk him out of it and say nothing unless he asks you. And most importantly, always meet his demands without question (Armed Robbery, 2005). If you fail to follow these simple directions, then, as the bank manager explained it, you might be taken out of the bank in a body bag.

Even while knowing that there are going to be some major new challenges in your life following the bank robbery at gunpoint, you also know that it is not your fault that you reacted as you did during the robbery which as noted by your boss at the bank was level-headed and cool. It has long been known that human beings have a sort of inborn “primitive biochemical response for dealing with dangerous situations,” such as being approached by a stranger in a dark alley or having your home broken into by thugs while you sleep soundly in bed. Medically, this response is automatic, meaning that it cannot be controlled merely by thinking about it. It also “prepares the body to fight or flee from a real or perceived threat” like the robber at your bank. Physically, your brain begins to release chemicals that “cause a racing heart, fast breathing, energized muscles” and some other types of normal reactions (Holland, 2005, p. 1).

Shortly after the bank robbery and while sitting at home all alone, you begin to feel some of those challenges coming on. Besides being afraid to return to work and go about your job as if nothing had happened on that bright and warm morning, a flood of new hard emotions takes over like disbelief, a feeling that it was all but a dream, anxiety, personal guilt, anger, and of course, fear. But these are only temporary challenges to your emotional state of mind.

Then you suddenly realize that the biggest challenge ahead of you as a victim of a violent crime is living with what will result, both physically and mentally, from being traumatized at the bank hold-up. This is perhaps one of the longest-lasting and most damaging of all human experiences. As Holland points out, traumatic events can “layer on the psyche” or build up through repeated thoughts about the incident layers made up of denial, a sense of unfairness, helplessness, and vulnerability (2005, p. 3). And when you least expect it, memories come flooding back and you relive the traumatic experience all over again, even though years have passed since it occurred. It is also not your fault that you could not think straight during the robbery because “the part of the brain that controls rational thought was bypassed” (Holland, 2005, p. 3).

Since you will or might already be suffering from acute trauma as a result of the bank robbery, some of the “minor” physical and mental challenges that go along with being traumatized or when experiencing PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) includes an inability to focus at work which for a bank teller is fatal when counting money; not being able to sleep as before and waking up at all hours of the night with thoughts about the robbery still lingering in your mind; feeling tired all of the time and unable to deal with simple family matters at home; not enjoying food, even when you are starving; frequent headaches that interrupt your daily routine to the point where you are disabled and cannot even vacuum the carpet; and in some cases, weight gain which for most women is probably the most serious after-effect of being traumatized (Glanze, 2005, p. 834).

A few other “side effects” includes changes in your sexual habits and your ability to enjoy having sex, and of course nightmares about the incident. For some victims, flashbacks may occur, much like a soldier who experiences flashbacks of fighting in Vietnam, or someone who has recently experienced a devastating earthquake and has lost some of his family members.

But please do not be alarmed. As the old saying goes, “Time heals all wounds.” As time passes in your life, the trauma associated with the bank robbery will fade and you will then be able to live a fairly normal life. But bad memories sometimes die hard and can last an entire lifetime. In the end, perhaps the greatest challenge you will face as a victim will simply be living with the memories and the feelings that came about on that bright morning at the bank so very long ago.

References

Armed robbery. (2005). Prevention of Theft and Frauds for Business People. Retrieved from http://www.prevention-commerce.com/pcevq.asp#lien2

Glanze, W.D. (2005). Mosby’s Encyclopedia of Human Physiology. St. Louis, MO: C.V. Mosby Company.

Holland, D. (2005). Recovery after robbery: A guide to help owners and managers support their employees. Retrieved from http://www.drdebraholland.com/handouts/RobberyHandout.pdf