Community Care after a Crisis by Dwight Bain
Identifying Emotional Warning Signs and Trauma
Symptoms
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 school, mall or church shootings,
bombing or terrorism are unpredictable, it requires a different course of
action 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
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 weren’t 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, and 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
“okay” again.
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 Crisis Instructor in practice since 1984.
His primary focus is managing major change as a Critical Incident Stress
Management expert. Bain has spoken to over 3,000 groups on strategic change
topics. 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 and stay connected
to his daily updates at www.LinkedIn.com/DwightBain