Community Care After a Crisis- Identifying Emotional Warning Signs and Trauma Symptoms By: Dwight Bain
A community crisis
can terrorize an entire community in just a few minutes, while the recovery
process to rebuild from a major critical incident may take weeks or months to
sort through. The more you know about how to survive and rebuild after the
crisis, the faster you can take positive action to get your personal and
professional life back on track.
Since community
crisis events like shootings at schools, malls or churches, bombing or
terrorism are unpredictable, it requires a different course of action than the
crisis brought on from natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes,
earthquakes, fires and floods. What can you do right now to cope with the
psychological impact of a major community crisis brought on through violence?
1. Deal Directly with
Your Emotions
This will reduce the
tension and stress on you, which allows you to have more energy to deal with a
difficult situation. However, if you stuff your fears and frustrations in a
major community crisis, your emotions can quickly blow up without warning.
Exploding in rage on your children, your coworkers or your marriage partner
will only make a difficult situation worse.
Community crisis
events are a terrible situation full of loss and difficulty for everyone. By
taking action now you can move beyond feeling overwhelmed by intense stress,
anger or confusion. As you follow the insight from this recovery guide, you
will be taking positive steps to rebuild with the focused energy of an even
stronger life for you and your family after the emergency service workers pack
up and go home because your community has recovered.
To best survive a
major community crisis, you need a strong combination of three key elements:
·
healthy coping skills
· healthy supports
· healthy perspective
· healthy supports
· healthy perspective
2. Consider the
Dangers of Long-term Stress
A major community
crisis affects everyone however; it becomes dangerous to our health when the
stress goes on for an extended period of time. Major stress can affect adults,
children, the elderly and even pets, so it is important to be alert to watch
for the danger signs of the psychological condition called
Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (commonly referred to as PTSD), in yourself,
your family members and coworkers.
These symptoms
include any dramatic change in emotions, behavior, thought patterns or physical
symptoms over the next few days, weeks or even months. Since community crisis
events are a terribly stressful time for everyone and often remain stressful
for days or weeks to come, there are a number of factors to be aware of to keep
yourself and those who you care about safe.
3. Identify the
Warning Signs of Overload
These signs are
indicators that the intense stress from the critical incident is beginning to
overwhelm the individual. The longer the stress symptoms occur, the greater the
severity of the traumatic event on the individual. This does not imply
craziness or personal weakness; rather, it simply indicates that the stress
levels from the storm were too powerful for the person to manage and their body
is reacting to the abnormal situation of having survived a major trauma.
It’s normal to feel
completely overwhelmed by a community crisis; however, there are danger signs
to watch for in yourself or others that may indicate psychological trauma.
Adults or children who display any of the following stress symptoms may need
additional help dealing with the events of this crisis. It is strongly
recommended that you seek the appropriate medical or psychological assistance
if you see a lot of the physical, emotional, cognitive or behavioral symptoms listed
below in you, your coworkers, or someone in your family or home, especially if
these symptoms were not present before the crisis.
Physical Symptoms -
Chills, thirst, fatigue, nausea, fainting, vomiting, dizziness, weakness, chest
pain, headaches, elevated blood pressure, rapid heart rate, muscle tremors,
difficulty breathing, shock symptoms, and so on.
Emotional Symptoms -
Fear, guilt, grief, panic, denial, anxiety, irritability, depression, apprehension,
emotional shock, and feeling overwhelmed, loss of emotional control, and so on.
Cognitive Symptoms-
Confusion, nightmares, uncertainty, hyper-vigilance, suspiciousness, intrusive
images, poor problem solving, poor abstract thinking, poor attention/memory and
concentration, disorientation of time, places or people, difficulty identifying
objects or people, heightened or lowered alertness, and so on.
Behavioral Symptoms-
Withdrawal, antisocial acts, inability to rest, intensified pacing, erratic
movements, changes in social activity, changes in speech patterns, loss of or
increase of appetite, increased alcohol consumption, and so on.
If you are in doubt
about these symptoms in your life, or someone you care about, it is wise to
seek the care of a physician or certified mental health professional. Better to
actively deal with the stressful emotions directly to help yourself and your
loved ones to immediately cope with this crisis because these emotions tend to
worsen and get more intense if left untreated. Remember that there are many
experienced professionals who can help you and your children recover during a
time of crisis.
You do not have to go
through this alone. Take action now to prevent stress from continuing to
overwhelm you or the people you care about. Call a trusted friend to talk
through it, reach out to clergy, or call your family doctor or counselor. If
you don’t know someone to call about these emotional issues, you can reach out
for assistance by calling telephone hotlines which are offered at no cost to
you. These numbers are often posted by local media, hospitals, churches,
schools, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army or FEMA. If you, or someone you care
about are feeling overwhelmed by stress, anxiety, guilt or grief, it’s important
to make the call for assistance now to learn how to get past the pressure to
begin to feel “normal” again. Finally, meditate on the comforting words of
Lamentations 3:22-24 where Jeremiah writes - "Through the Lord’s mercies
we are not consumed, Because His compassion's fail not. They are new every
morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I hope in Him!”
About the Author
– Dwight Bain has dedicated his life to guide people toward greater
results as an Author, Nationally Certified Counselor, Certified Life Coach and
Certified Family Law Mediator in practice since 1984. His primary focus is on
solving crisis events and managing major change as a Critical Incident Stress
Management expert and speaker for over 3,000 groups on the topic of making
strategic change to overcome major stress He speaks over 100 times per
year to groups across the United States on creating positive change. Follow him
for updates at www.Facebook.com/DwightBain or www.Twitter.com/DwightBain