Traumatic Experience Intervention: Hurricane Katrina Essay

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In 2005 the Hurricane Katrina smashed in Louisiana and moved northeast to the state of Mississippi resulting in a serious life loss and destruction to property causing fuel and electricity shortage (Sandhyarani, 2009). The hurricane, apart from causing life loss, did also affect a number of people who were being reported to have suffered post-traumatic stress disorder. Moreover, some patients were reported to have suffered depression or an anxiety disorder (Tull, 2009).

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Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a condition characterized by intense fear, helplessness, or horror as a consequence of exposure to a traumatizing experience (Long, 1995). The symptoms of PTSD include a persistent recall or experiencing the event, constantly avoiding the stimuli associated with the trauma, numbing of general responsiveness, and persistent symptoms of increased autonomic arousal (Long, 1995). The disorder normally occurs with other disorders such as substance-related disorders, panic disorder, agoraphobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia, specific phobia, bipolar phobia, and major depressive disorder (Long,1995). These disorders have been shown to either precede, follow or concurrently occur with post-traumatic stress disorder. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder normally begins to show signs after three months after the trauma. It can take between three months to twelve months to completely clear off but research has shown that at times, it may reoccur if the victims get exposed to reminders of the trauma, stressing issues, or even to new traumatizing events (Long,1995). The likelihood of developing the disorder depends on the level of severity of the trauma, exposure, duration, and the proximity of the individual to the trauma.

After a traumatizing experience, there are people who are unable to forget about the experience and move on, and instead, they build their lives around the experience. They will then start developing symptoms of avoidance and hyperarousal that are associated with PTSD (Van der Kolk, McFarlane, and Weisaeth, 1996, p 6). Research has actually shown that it is not really the traumatic event that causes PTSD but the constant intrusive and distressing recollection of the event that really causes PTSD in the victims (Van der Kolk, McFarlane, and Weisaeth, 1996, p 6). Studies have also shown that even though people who suffer from PTSD normally have occupational and interpersonal problems. However, the degree to which PTSD affects them varies greatly from one individual to the other.

Medical personnel for a long time associated the causes of PTSD with the predisposing factors while ignoring the reality of the victim’s experience as a potential cause of PTSD. Studies have now shown that the reality of the experience does actually result in PTSD; according to van der Kolk, McFarlane & Weisaethto (1996, p 6), the critical elements that make an event traumatic is not really the event itself but the constant subjective assessment of the victims of horror of how helpless and threatened they feel. They assert that the reality of the extraordinary events is the principal cause of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. While trying to find out the root causes of PTSD, it is important therefore to consider the reality of the event itself as well as the kind of meanings the victims attach to the traumatic events. Studies have also shown the existence of delayed PTSD in which the victim suffers PTSD after facing a reminder of the experience they had undergone which could be more life-threatening.

According to van der Kolk, McFarlane & Weisaethto (1996, p 6), “The critical element that makes an event traumatic is the subjective assessment by victims of how threatened and helpless they feel.” Such a kind of feeling is likely to result in cases of late PTSD. This normally occurs when the victims start associating their experience with a reminder of the trauma they had experienced mainly because a feeling of helplessness creates a sense of vulnerability in the people. This normally occurs when the victim hears about or comes across a serious case of the same event they had experienced. Maybe it had not really affected them then, but when they come to realize that someone else had gone through the same experience but has been seriously affected by it, they then start feeling so vulnerable and scared of the same befalling them; thus eventually leading to PTSD.

Therefore, the victims of the traumatizing events are normally affected psychologically and the path to their healing requires that the victims are able to come to terms with the event and handle it as any other normal occurrence. As in the case of the Hurricane Katrina victims, citizens of New Orleans feel that they have been victimized twice by the hurricane; they will definitely associate their region with the hurricane attacks. This is likely to impact negatively on the recovery process since the people feel vulnerable and also feel that no matter how well they try to deal with the disaster, it is likely or bound to happen again. This, therefore, means that helping the victims recover from the trauma may not be easy as they will still be feeling vulnerable and helpless especially because they feel they could still experience more attacks.

A number of the traumatic events victims are never keen on the recovery process; they instead, continuously indulge in a persistent recollection of the experience they underwent. This is a major predisposing factor to PTSD. In this case, the citizens of New Orleans are experiencing a crisis and they need aid in terms of food, medical services, and even rescue teams to help the victims. Such a situation has been accompanied by a lot of narration concerning the event which is certainly going to interfere with the recovery process. This is because as the victims continuously revisit the horrific events that had ensued, they are likely to feel more and more helpless and depressed. It will be therefore an uphill task to relax these people and make them focus on recovery from the trauma.

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Hurricane Katrina had a lot of media coverage and in fact, most people were able to come to terms with the reality of the hurricane through the television coverage. The coverage included information on the destruction to property, loss of life, interruption of power supply, interference with the transport networks, and food and fuel shortages. The media, to a great extent covered the humanitarian crisis in New Orleans showing people in need of food, medicine, shelter, and clothing supply. According to a study done earlier on the effects of the hurricane on mentally ill patients, it was found that the victims, after watching the coverage on the television, became adversely affected by it. This implies therefore that the more the media continued focusing more and more on the crisis that the people were facing, people started having feelings of being so desperate and helpless. This will to a great extent cause fear in the people and is likely to interfere with the healing of the victims.

One strategy for helping the victims is to assist them to deal with the effects of the trauma; they should be helped to understand that the event was just like any other and should be able to forget about it and move on (Web4Health, 2008). In extreme cases where the individual has developed a full-blown PTSD, it may be important to have the victims join medical institutions to help them recover from the effects of the trauma (Nova, n.d).

In conclusion, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a product of a traumatic experience. It could be a result of interpersonal or occupational problems that an individual is experiencing. In order to help the victim as in the case of Hurricane Katrina, it may be crucial that the media coverage focuses on positive issues such as airing information about people who have been successfully rescued and taken to safer grounds. Moreover, the media should avoid putting across so much information on the destruction done.

References

Long, P. (1995). Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Web.

Nova, (n.d). The Trauma of Victimization. 2010. Web.

Sandhyarani, N. (2009). Effects of Hurricane Katrina. Web.

Tull, M. (2009). Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Web.

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Van der Kolk, B. McFarlane, A. Weisaeth, L. (1996).Traumatic Stress: The Effects of Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body and Society. New York: Guilford press.

Web4Health. (2008). Help for Trauma Victims of Disasters, for example Tsunami Victims. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2022) 'Traumatic Experience Intervention: Hurricane Katrina'. 16 May.

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IvyPanda. 2022. "Traumatic Experience Intervention: Hurricane Katrina." May 16, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/victims-perception-analysis/.

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IvyPanda. "Traumatic Experience Intervention: Hurricane Katrina." May 16, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/victims-perception-analysis/.

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