Desensitization through images

[I wanna be a Cardiothoracic Surgeon]

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Has anyone ever done this? I tried it with rotten.com, looked at all their images, and I must say I think I can pretty much handle anything after seeing some of these images. I DON'T recommend you do this, it is exceedingly disturbing, but I did it in preparation, and it seems to be working, I don't get grossed out at the hospital when I sometimes assist in the trauma ward. Please let me know if this has worked for you, looking at images for desensitization.

 

[tater tot]

I don't think that images can compare to the real thing!!

I highly recommend to anyone that they get as much real exposure as possible! It enables you to really learn about your clinical strengths and weaknesses, as well as your interest. It well prepares you for for over-coming clinical nerves.

TMy greatest internship was in cardiac surgery. I was able to prep and assist on large animal surgeries. (sad, but that's where clinical research and medicine starts)
I had to perform intubations, IV's, sutures, ... great experience! there were many UN-pretty sights and surprises! I also was part of the transplant team (human). So I experienced being strapped to a pager, being called in at 3AM, working over 24hrs......the real deal. Not to mention scrubbing-in in the OR !! whew-hoo!! 😀 It was incredible and I'm now super-positive I want to go into surgery.
Even all the bad was great experience--- the pressure and expectations are tremendous in the OR. Behavior is irrational and everything is SO fast-paced...it really makes you shake in your shoes, or should I say booties <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />
well, best of luck !! :wink:

 

[Lavndrrose]

I can understand premeds looking at this stuff to get desensitized, but how can anyone in their right mind (the creator of rotten.com) do this as a hobby??? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" />

 

[Hero]

i get desensitized by understanding the science behind it. Instead of freaky, it's just cool

 

[WaitingImpatiently]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Hero:
•i get desensitized by understanding the science behind it. Instead of freaky, it's just cool•••••YES!!! That's what I was thinking. If you see this as you should see it-- science to help people-- then you won't be disgusted. Of course, I would probably get sick at looking at some of the stuff from that website (never checked it out, though) because there's nothing artistic and fascinating about it.

 

[megkudos]

Hmm...maybe you shouldn't have suggested that to me...

I just spent the past half hour checking out the site....

Yep I feel desentitized, trust me on that one. Where's the barfing gremelin when you need him? J/K.....

 

[Hero]

<img src="http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/images/smilies/puke.gif" alt="" />

 

[THE instiGATOR]

I don't think I want to go to that site. I'm afraid I'll find some pretty bad stuff. What kind of stuff is on the site? Don't post the images, just give a description (please).

I'm curious.

 

[Lavndrrose]

Really really bad stuff!!!! Very inhumane in my opinion.

Sorry to bring this up...but just think of what you would see at ground zero after 9/11 attacks.

 

[bald]

i thought they havent found much at ground zero? the news has been reporting how surprised officials are and not finding bodies - everything was literally crushed to dust. 😳

 

[dfleis]

.

 

[THE instiGATOR]

ARRRGH! Can someone just put what's on the site! It's easy! Just go:

1) Eating crap.
2) Maggots in wounds.
3) etc...

Everyone seems grossed out. How bad can it be and remain legal?!?

<img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" /> Curiosity kills, man! I'm dying here! <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />

 

[dfleis]

.

 

[THE instiGATOR]

Thanks. Is this some dude's idea of "art"?!? Why would people care to see such things? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" /> The world is full of strange people.

You'd think that whoever is posting the images would have to have concent to make suicide pictures available to the public. What kind of parent or spouse would give their concent to that!?!

I guess we'll chalk this up as another dumb site.

Dumb sites:
Fairy site
Rotten.com

 

[Cerberus]

i'm ill <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />

 

[Assassin]

rotten.com

that is some sick **** <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />
...but funny

 

[Lavndrrose]

•••quote:•••i thought they havent found much at ground zero? the news has been reporting how surprised officials are and not finding bodies - everything was literally crushed to dust.••••Maybe not actual bodies, but body parts...yeah. My friend's cousin, who lives in those apartments near ground zero said (I guess due to the great impact) body parts had flown through windows of those apartment buildings. He wasn't there to witness it but because he was a doctor, the police allowed him in the building to examine the scene.

 

[oldman]

i don't think you can desensitized through images.

i looked at this web page before and one even older (www.goregallery.com). they showed people dying of all sorts of horrible ways.

then i saw the real thing in februrary while i was on shift as an emt. i've had nightmares about seeing someone die from trauma ever since. nothing, i mean nothing, compares to the real thing.

 

[Doctora Foxy]

<img src="http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/images/smilies/puke.gif" alt="" />

Do not go to the site after eating!

 

[oldman]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Doctora Foxy:
• <img src="http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/images/smilies/puke.gif" alt="" />

Do not go to the site after eating!•••••i like that gremlin. 🙂

but honestly, nothing is the same as having the real life experience. even surgery isn't the same as seeing a guy die out on the street...cause i've been there.

 

[Forensic Chick]

Well, from being in a profession where you see death, mutilation, and many other grotesque things, I must let you know that no matter how many pictures you see or how many scenes you go to - you will never be "desensitized" to death or other gruesome things. Right when you think you've seen the worst, you realize at the next scene that the previous wasn't as bad as the current. Adult death surely does not have the same effect on someone as a child's death - which I doubt one will ever come desensitized to. You learn to deal with it but you'll never get used to it. I understand that some of you are trying to prepare yourselves for seeing blood, guts and gore - but don't subject yourself to the torture of viewing websites and trying to deal with that. The pictures are lacking what you will really experience, such as the smell and other things going on around the body (insects). In the desire to become a cardiothoracic surgeon, I seriously doubt that you'll encounter too many decapitations or other horrific images seen on rotten.com.

In relation to the 9/11 tragedy - one of my teachers responded to the incident since he was on an urban search and rescue team. He was there for 10 days and he said that the largest piece of body they recovered was a 3" x 3" piece of sternum with a few attached ribs. Rotten.com would never prepare you for that.

Since you volunteer in a trauma ward and haven't been "grossed out" I doubt you have much to worry about. If you want some more experience I'd recommend becoming an EMT to see the traumas before they're cleaned up for the surgeons.

Best of luck.

 

[megkudos]

Bubba Swamp-
I don't think anyone gave consent. It's more like people get a hold of the images and send them to rotten.com to be posted. And I think people like it cuz of a fascination with death and gore.

They even have a site of "famous" dead people like the basist from Pennywise and Kurt Cobain. Pretty wierd.

Maybe I'm just f*ucked up but I thought it was kinda cool that you can go and look at shi* like that if you want to. I'm kinda sick of people that are all on their high horse about "I've seen it in real life, you should become an EMT to see the "real" thing, it's nothing compared to that" I had no idea that people could look like that after they, for instance, shot themselves. So it's taught me something at least. Oh well, just IMO.

 

[Forensic Chick]

Megkudos,

In response to your statement: •••quote:•••I'm kinda sick of people that are all on their high horse about "I've seen it in real life, you should become an EMT to see the "real" thing, it's nothing compared to that" I had no idea that people could look like that after they, for instance, shot themselves. ••••I never said that you couldn't learn anything from pictures of suicides/homicides - I was simply stating that one would have difficulty desensitizing through these images. I have spent time searching through the images at Rotten.com because it's pretty interesting stuff -- I just don't think that it should be used as a tool to gauge if one can handle the grotesque things they may see in person in a hospital or other setting.

I also don't see why I'm suddenly on a high horse because I gave my opinion on a certain subject. I thought this forum was to help others - not put people down for experiences they may have had or opinions they give. Being an EMT is an invaluable experience in seeing things and learning the basics of the medical profession. I'm sorry that you don't feel the same way.

I am glad that you were able to learn something from the web page - it truly is interesting material.

 

[oldman]

I don't doubt that you will learn something from looking at images like those found on rotten.com

i was first shown a similar web site and looked at those photos. At first I was grossed out, then morbidly curious. Eventually, looking at the photos didn't have any affect. My EMT book also has similar pictures, and they were quite informative.

Then this past February, there was an injured athlete that I wasn't able to save. I still have nightmares, cry, and see images flashing in my head. I don't think I learned anything from the event other than the emotional impact of losing a patient.

•••quote:•••Originally posted by megkudos:
•...kinda sick of people that are all on their high horse about "I've seen it in real life, you should become an EMT to see the "real" thing, it's nothing compared to that" I had no idea that people could look like that after they, for instance, shot themselves. So it's taught me something at least. Oh well, just IMO.•••••

 

[matthew0126]

i don't think we should ever become desentitized to death/gory stuff, i think we should just learn to deal with it, as someone said above... i think the day that something like that doesn't put you aback for a second is the day you become a robot. recognize that that mess you are looking at is a person with a history, with feelings, with loved ones... and then proceed to work

then again, i don't plan on becoming a trauma surgeon. maybe those incredible folks need to become robots just to function day in and day out (like emt's)... personally, i never want to become like that. but don't get me wrong; i have the *utmost* respect for those surgeons and the emt's... they are perhaps the most admirable people in the medical field

 

[oldman]

well i don't think desenitization is the key to making it. you just have to distance yourself from what has happened when you need to do your work, and this is what your training will help you do. afterwards, you can think about the event on a human level. that's when the emotions come flooding back. then you'll heal and be ready for the next patient.

 

[Yogi Bear]

Isn't the goal of doctors to NOT be desensitized? It's when docs get desensitized that they treat their patients as objects rather than human beings worthy of emotional attachment. I don't think any patient would want their doc to have the mentality that they're another lab mouse, or have the doc forget that his patients/their family members may have emotional/psychological problems because of things that have happened.

 

[Doctora Foxy]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by coenocyte:
•Isn't the goal of doctors to NOT be desensitized? It's when docs get desensitized that they treat their patients as objects rather than human beings worthy of emotional attachment. I don't think any patient would want their doc to have the mentality that they're another lab mouse, or have the doc forget that his patients/their family members may have emotional/psychological problems because of things that have happened.•••••I agree. When I went to visit UVM, all the students kept saying how they became desensitized from anatomy lab. I kept wondering how that was a good thing. I wouldn't want to lose respect for the humanity of my cadaver.

 

[dfleis]

.

 

[Jessica]

I made the mistake of checking out rotten.com once, it was quite disturbing... (this coming from someone who has spent a good deal of time in the trauma dept. and in the coroner's office... ick)

I doesn't seem to matter how many times I've seen nasty stuff, it still makes my stomach turn, and the images are frozen in my mind for a long, long time.

I did manage to stop fainting though... so I guess that is a good sign 🙂