GALVESTON — If you find yourself losing your sense of psychological balance after losing so much in a storm, don’t worry. That’s normal, experts say.
“The good news is that people are amazingly resilient,” Dr. John Weaver said. “Galveston, especially, knows that. It was wiped out before and became a strong community again. You don’t always get everything back, but you recover.”
Weaver, an expert on mental health during disasters and founder of Eye of the Storm, based in Nazareth, Pa., said some storm survivors would begin experiencing stress symptoms immediately. They’ll grieve about what they and their community lost almost as if they were mourning the death of a loved one, he said.
“Losing a pet, family heirlooms or a house is very much a loss similar to a death,” he said. “Most people don’t realize that. Our culture tends to expect things to be solved quickly. It’s a much longer and more difficult process than that.”
Survivors are often overwhelmed, but once they realize they’ve survived, they begin coping with the trauma, said Dr. Suzanne Phillips of New York City, a psychologist specializing in disaster recovery.
“They’ve lost the illusion of safety,” she said. “Life is never quite the same again.”
Some people don’t begin coping with the disaster until weeks or possibly even months after the event, Phillips said. Others deal with physical problems.
Common symptoms include nightmares, loss of sleep, change in appetite and flashbacks, Phillips said.
Survivors may also feel anxious, numb and shocked, said Dr. Richard Shadick, director of the Pace University Counseling Center in New York City.
The best thing people can do to cope with the life-altering storm is talk about it, Dr. Charles Figley said.
“They don’t need a therapist or counselor to talk about it,” said Figley, director of traumatology at Tulane University in New Orleans. “They just need to get their experience out there. They compare notes and emotional reactions. All of this is a very normal process.”
People who’ve lived through another traumatic event won’t necessarily cope better, Weaver said.
Hurricane Katrina or Rita victims who lived through those storms may find they had unresolved issues that are only now surfacing. People who recently had other stressful life events, such as divorce or a family member’s death, may have their reactions to Ike compounded, he said.
Often, many people try to move away rather than rebuild, he said.
“They’re making life decisions that you would normally make over a period of years in a few weeks’ time,” he said. “Some people think they can move away and it will end the pain. The truth is, you can never get away from it.”
If symptoms of stress don’t go away after a few weeks, storm survivors may need to seek professional counseling, several experts said.
Figley said most people will be able to cope with the hurricane but others will have more difficulty. The difference, he said, is that some people let go of the emotional trauma and allow Ike to become a memory rather than a constant reality.
“It’s certainly bad, and there’s no reason to minimize that,” he said. “Those memories are lasting and remind us that we survived. Even though everyone was scared and it looked hopeless, we made it.”
Weaver said it could take survivors two to seven years to rebuild their lives and fill in the gaps that the disaster left in their lives.
“People are always changed, but they need not be damaged by this,” he said. “They have to look at this as a chance to say they survived.”
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Tips for coping
• Don’t rely on alcohol, drugs or nicotine;
• Take time out to do something you enjoy;
• Listen to music, exercise or play games;
• Talk about how you survived;
• Help others with their recovery effort;
• Return to a normal schedule; and
• Expect it to take some time to feel normal. What’s normal:
• Loss of sleep;
• Change in eating habits;
• Nightmares;
• Flashbacks;
• Numbness;
• Shock; and
• Anxiety. +++ Mental health services and counseling are available at Island Community Center, 4700 Broadway, and at the American Red Cross shelter at Alamo Elementary School, 5200 Ave. N.
