Everyone experiences stress in life. But some events are so
stressful they overwhelm our ability to cope, to even function at
all.
By
Hara Estroff Marano, published on November 01, 2001 - last reviewed on September 14, 2006
Overcoming the sense of helplessness is crucial to recovery. One important way is reaching out to and helping others. The willingness of so many people to give blood after the disaster was a therapeutic impulse on a grand scale. Mobilizing constructive energy in ways big and small—an act of babysitting for a newly widowed wife of a fireman is not too small—directly combats the sense of powerlessness that contributes to trauma.
People may also need reminders that they in fact have the coping skills to get through the current trauma. It helps to think back to other difficult experiences one has gone through and to recall in detail what was helpful in the past.
Another important element is social support. People need the conviction of those around them, and of the culture at large, that the symptoms they are experiencing are normal, that there is no shame or stigma attached to their responses.
The scale of the current disaster may make it unprecedented in this regard. The collective sense of grief and trauma shared by Americans may uniquely destigmatize emotional suffering.
