PTSD
Susan Barrera
PTSD, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can affect anyone at any time. All it takes is a life-threatening, traumatic experience against which we are helpless and which makes us feel hopeless, and there we have it. And these traumatic events are entirely outside of the realm of normal experience. That pretty much describes Hurricane Katrina, doesn’t it?
I know of Vietnam veterans whose PTSD symptoms from combat had gotten worse after watching TV footage of Desert Storm and Iraq combat. Now there are many of us in the country who are getting secondary PTSD from watching the footage of the disaster in the Gulf Coast, not to mention the segment of the country that actually lived through it.
Who of us couldn’t relate and identify with our fellow Americans who have lost everything? Our hearts have bled for the lost souls who had no place to go and nothing to eat or drink for days and not knowing the whereabouts of their loved ones. Those brave officers and rescue workers who have been out there helping others twenty or more hours a day, whose own homes were destroyed, have been inspiring to all of us.
The families and individuals who experienced the devastation of the storm will have emotional problems in the aftermath in addition to their basic survival needs. Survival comes first, but the PTSD symptoms will surface as soon as they are in a safe place. The nightmare of the death and destruction of all that they knew will haunt them for a long time.
What happened was unbelievable: their lives, families, homes and communities there one day and then gone the next. Their life became a nightmare. The looting, crime, destruction, danger, filth and disease have to make it feel like a war zone.
Some of the symptoms to look for will be: nightmares, persistent anxiety, fear, worry, emotional numbness, self-blame, hyper-vigilance, loneliness, anger, need for control, depression, suicidal thoughts, feelings of alienation, phobic-like avoidance behaviors, insomnia, intrusive thoughts, panic attacks, impaired concentration self-medication through drugs or alcohol, and more.
The country is pulling together to send temporary relief to help the victims, and then providing longer-term housing and jobs and the necessities of daily life as the survivors of the storm are being assimilated into communities far from their homes. The children placed into new schools are resilient and will survive, but they will need counseling and help to deal with the reality that their homes and families have been torn apart in ways and to an extent that no one could have imagined. They will feel as though nothing in life can be counted on.
The devastation and rubble will slowly get cleared away from the areas affected by this storm, and the cities will eventually be rebuilt. The country’s mental health professionals will also need to see to it that these citizens get the emotional help that they need to not just survive but thrive as they struggle to put their lives in some semblance of order. Our people are tough and will survive stronger than ever.
Please donate generously to a disaster relief organization that you trust so that all of the benefit goes to help those who need the help the most.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
