Emergency at sea. Wading through the chaos of emotions

Abstract

This article draws attention to the advantages of applying the theoretical model of the experiential group in particularly critical conditions, such as those dictated by a state of emergency, as a means of addressing an urgent need by putting up a sort of decompression chamber for emotional residues derived from the difficult and sometimes extreme work situations experienced by the participants. The shared participation in the unwholesome experience unites and creates familial bonds, and is infectious, giving back a universal language for the encounter with other cultures that are unknown to us. Not only that, the state of emergency gives rise to another form of language, the language of meaningful action, where doing as an institutional practice—acting together to save human lives—allows the structuring and consolidation of a sense of identity to which the strong ‘esprit de corps’ emerges, also told by the crew as the experiential groups bears witness.