Will a breakdown on the job likely end in termination?

Tnaemt94 said:
I am not violent at all. I have worked with co workers who have had aggressive outbursts and have been able to excel in their jobs as a EMT/medic. My "outbursts" are more like crawling into a ball and causing harm to myself than to anyone else.
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Right...

So "outbursts" mean this has happened more than once. If you sometimes get in this state and start causing harm to yourself as you're unable to function, it doesn't change our points. You cannot reliably work as an EMS provider if you occasionally, without warning, break down and become non functioning due to internal or external stressors or "deep thoughts." That's unpredictable, and who could afford to take on the liability of having you alone on a call with your partner, attending a patient in the back, at a station waiting for a call, or driving an emergency vehicle when you suddenly melt down?

This doesn't make you a bad person at all, just not suitable for EMS in this state of mind. Get yourself sorted out, figure out a way to compartmentalize your extraneous thoughts from your job/life, and evaluate what you want to do.
 
Tnaemt94 said:
It is not your job to determine if EMS is right for me or not. If I feel it is right for me, then I will pursue it.
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Im going to be blunt and straightforward here. You shouldn't be in this career field, its not for you. Losing yourself in front of everyone is just plain unacceptable not only in this career field but any career field. You should seek a counselor or therapist as I'm going to venture to guess this is not the first time that you've had one of these "incidents".

If I worked where you worked I'd be the guy that PTO's every shift I'm scheduled with you because when you completely lose yourself on the job you're not only a danger to yourself, but you're also a danger for the patients that are left in your care.
 
Tnaemt94 said:
I was analyzing the emotion love. I was thinking deeply about it and gaining feedback from articles written by psychologists and feedback from people online.

I am a deep thinker. If I get a topic on my mind my thoughts can consume my thinking process.

The job in itself does not bother me. I love my job and feel like it is my niche. It is the external crap in life that I get hooked on and it interferes with any job I have.

So to specifically target EMS and say that particular job is not right for me is a wrongful assumption. The issue is not job-related whatsoever
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Let me alter it then. Any job where you are directly managing the care of others is not for you. You're right, EMS has nothing to do with this. It has everything to do with you. If you let your emotions overtake you and that leads to poor work performance, that's an issue. Doubly so since you're responsible for more than just your own well-being.

I don't know what you were looking for us to say? Yes it's ok that you let some emotional baggage make it impossible for you to do your job? Would that have been better?
 
Tigger said:
Let me alter it then. Any job where you are directly managing the care of others is not for you. You're right, EMS has nothing to do with this. It has everything to do with you. If you let your emotions overtake you and that leads to poor work performance, that's an issue. Doubly so since you're responsible for more than just your own well-being.

I don't know what you were looking for us to say? Yes it's ok that you let some emotional baggage make it impossible for you to do your job? Would that have been better?
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My question is, as I already asked, am I likely to be terminated over this?
 
Tnaemt94 said:
My question is, as I already asked, am I likely to be terminated over this?
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That's up to your bosses. None of us are your boss, so we can't say what they are going to do.

If I were your boss......then yes, I would probably encourage you to seek another opportunity.
 
Tnaemt94 said:
My question is, as I already asked, am I likely to be terminated over this?
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If it's a good department, absolutely. They will recognize that you do not have the needed attributes and personality for this, and have characteristics that are detrimental and dangerous and find a way to fire you post haste.
 
Tnaemt94 said:
My question is, as I already asked, am I likely to be terminated over this?
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Does it matter? Do you feel that you can adequately care for patients?

If you do, eventually you'll probably be terminated when it becomes clear that you cannot. Or you could be honest with yourself and walk away knowing you did the right thing and find a different career.
 
Tnaemt94 said:
I was analyzing the emotion love. I was thinking deeply about it and gaining feedback from articles written by psychologists and feedback from people online.

I am a deep thinker. If I get a topic on my mind my thoughts can consume my thinking process.

The job in itself does not bother me. I love my job and feel like it is my niche. It is the external crap in life that I get hooked on and it interferes with any job I have.

So to specifically target EMS and say that particular job is not right for me is a wrongful assumption. The issue is not job-related whatsoever
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You may not think it is job related, but you brought it onto the job, your "breakdown" happened at work, so you made it job related.

Tnaemt94 said:
I am not violent at all. I have worked with co workers who have had aggressive outbursts and have been able to excel in their jobs as a EMT/medic. My "outbursts" are more like crawling into a ball and causing harm to myself than to anyone else.
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What will happen when you feel that need to "crawl into a ball" while you are in the back with a patient?? Or driving down the road with a patient and partner in the back???

Either stop doing all that analyzing about emotions, deep thinking, reading articles by psychologists and getting feedback online while on the job, or like a bunch on here said, you might want to look into a new career path.
 
You were doing what with the emotion of love? I'm sorry but I have to call BS on this. How all of this is worded, and how you're coming off, there is no possible way it is real.

If you are such a deep thinker and analyst, you would understand why people are telling you to resign from EMS. Some deep thinking about emotions and the effects on your body would bring everything together for you, and you would get why you shouldn't have a patient in your care or be driving when, since you're prone to losing it for no reason.
 
Perhaps if EMS is your passion it would be helpful to at least take a break while you develop appropriate coping mechanisms. It's naive to expect your coworkers to deal with your existential crisis, espcially in EMS.
 
You broke down because you were thinking about love too much? I hate to imagine what would happen if you started thinking deeply about death...

Maybe you should explain in more detail what actually happened, since you don't agree with our collective opinion.
 
Tnaemt94 said:
I was analyzing the emotion love. I was thinking deeply about it and gaining feedback from articles written by psychologists and feedback from people online.

I am a deep thinker. If I get a topic on my mind my thoughts can consume my thinking process.

The job in itself does not bother me. I love my job and feel like it is my niche. It is the external crap in life that I get hooked on and it interferes with any job I have.

So to specifically target EMS and say that particular job is not right for me is a wrongful assumption. The issue is not job-related whatsoever
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"Analyzing the emotion love" caused a mental breakdown OTJ? I almost spit out my drink when I read that. I hope you didn't give your employer that as the reason for your breakdown. If my partner on the rig came out with something like that, I would have some serious trust issues with them. Maybe I would be okay working with them tentatively if they were being treated pharmacologically by a Psychiatrist.

What psych disorders have you been previously diagnosed with? Understand that your episode, and the reason you gave as the trigger of the episode would not be considered in any way normal by most people. Just like I wouldn't want a partner with a Sz disorder driving or taking care of patients alone, I wouldn't want a partner that has the potential to have a mental breakdown over something innocuous. "Breakdown because of analyzing love?" That's CCFCP territory for sure!

Regardless of everything else said above, your personal life cannot make its way into the job. You have to leave the home stuff at home and be professional on the clock. No exceptions. After work, you can "tweak" all you want behind closed doors where no one is affected, but not when others will potentially be involved.
 
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LACoGurneyjockey said:
Am I the only one who reads manic depressive all over this?
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Bipolar indeed. I've had a couple of flings that I had to drop when those types of symptoms started revealing themselves. Not dealing with it in a relationship, and not dealing with it in a work environment, unless it's a patient.
 
OP, if you're serious about keeping your job, agree to a psych eval, and clearance to work, with meds if prescribed. If they want to terminate you, I would suggest that first.
 
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