AFTER THE STORM
Psychologists on the scene describe the victims' mental anguish and
how they are treating it.
Imagine the enormity, to stand in one place and everywhere, as far
as you can see, there is damage. There is a loss and bereavement over
everything, from tangible to intangible, from a dream to your leg. The
scope of this disaster is a major issue, that everyone is going through
the same thing. It's loss on a grand scale."
This eyewitness account of the devastation left by the destructive
force of Hurricane Andrew is from Charles Gibbs, Ph.D., a clinical
psychologist and chairperson of the Crisis Response Task Force in Dade
County, Florida. He is one of the many mental-health professionals sent
to the Homestead area as part of a joint effort between the American Red
Cross and the American Psychological Association.
"I remember looking up and seeing body parts flying around me,"
recounted one survivor to Gibbs of his experiences during the storm. "The
walls fell down and then the roof caved in on us:' reported another of
the first Force 5 hurricane to befall an American city since Hurricane
Camille struck Biloxi, Mississippi, in 1969.
Dubbed the Disaster-Response Network, the volunteer mental-health
program was conceived as a 100th birthday gift of the American
Psychological Association to victims of disaster everywhere. The network
includes not only psychologists, but counselors, social workers, and
psychiatrists. The idea was simple and a good one: the Red Cross provides
physical treatment; the government, in the form of monetary and military
aid, provides the basic necessities of life; and volunteers such as Dr.
Gibbs offer their psychological services to ease the burden of adjustment
into an entirely uncharted and unfamiliar way of life.
In the aftermath of the storm and its relief efforts, from the
politicians' "help is on the way so chin up" speeches to the army and
Marine invasion of support and aid, how are people reacting to the
incredible loss they have suffered now that their basic needs are being
met, now that the tents are erected and the kids are back in
school?
"The survivors are suffering a myriad of emotional problems,"
reports Gibbs. "There's a lot of anxiety, restlessness, and an increase
in anger and irritability-all of which is a perfectly normal response to
a disaster of this magnitude. Many of the children are suffering night
terrors. They see 'Andrew' as a real person and they're afraid he's
coming back, that he's going to kill them. People feel like they're in a
war zone down here-there are 18,000 troops, and the air is filled with
helicopters. I know of one family of 65 people, all living in the same
shelter, and they're angry because they no longer have control over their
lives."
Many, including the armed forces sent to help out, compare the
devastation to that of a bombed-out city in Iraq--a sight witnessed by
several of those now serving meals and wiring the tents tents electricity
Even the bare trees, stripped of their leaves and providing no shade (a
normally uncommon sight in South Florida) are constant reminders of the
loss.
Psychologists trained in disaster response identify two distinct
phases of trauma. Phase One (also called the Impact Phase) is the acute
crisis response, typified by feelings of shock, anger, and frustration.
During this phase, in which survivors assess their losses and search for
what remains, there may be post-traumatic response to storms, a
reluctance to accept the need to move into a shelter, and an outbreak of
psychosomatic illnesses such as headaches and stomach trouble.
The effects of the Impact Phase may last for several weeks or even
months. It is a time when emotional recovery goes hand in hand with
physical recovery from the storm-getting food, clothing, shelter. But
getting back the basics doesn't necessarily mean getting back to normal,
as survivors typically struggle with restoring their emotions and their
outlook to the level of confidence and security they possessed before the
storm.
In Phase Two (also called the Recoil Phase), the impact of the
disaster has begun to sink in, and survivors are beginning to deal with
the magnitude of their loss and finding ways to get on with their lives.
As a result of the destruction, regular schedules are altered, lives are
disrupted, and the feeling that one is basically in control is gone. The
long-term effects of this adjustment can last up to 18 months, and is the
primary concern of the therapists now in action in the South Dade
area.
"Typically, people respond to a disaster with some initial heroic
measures," says John Carnes, Ph.D., associate director of family practice
residency at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, Florida.
"Everyone helps everyone else, and there's a kind of honeymoon mentality
for awhile, a 'Thank God we survived; we're going to beat this thing'
attitude. That can last for a day to a week, and then reality sets in.
Very often people will be disillusioned by the slowness of relief efforts
or by looters, and they begin to get angry.
"Think of anger as being the flipside of insecurity. Survivors
then, when they realize the full extent of the damage, will very often
vent that anger at an agency or a representative, something that they're
feeling frustrated about. Sometimes, that might even be their children or
their spouses."
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