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After Disaster: Helping Employees Cope
After Disaster: A Children's Mental Health Checklist
Coping With Your Loss and Grief
Recovering From a Crisis Situation
After Disaster: Helping Employees Cope
This interview appeared in the Winter issue of Trendletter magazine. © Trendsetter. All rights reserved.
In an increasingly violent world, managers need to know how to deal sensitively with the aftermath of violence in employees’ lives. Trauma challenges our most basic assumptions about ourselves and makes demands on the organization which may go against corporate cultures, according to Martin Symonds, M.D., a psychiatrist with the New York City Police Department and a consultant to TWA in its efforts to counsel workers caught up in incidents of terrorism. The good news is that trauma is surprisingly consistent in its impact.
The basic principles for dealing with traumatized employees are remarkably simple. Their essence: compassion.
Interviewer: What happens to an employee who becomes a victim of violence?
Dr. Symonds: There is a classic pattern of four stages. The first stage is shock, denial, and disbelief: the victim freezes up.
Stage two is fright and clinging behavior. If you’re in the company of the person who committed the violence, you’ll cling to the perpetrator. This can lead to a lot of misplaced guilt later on.
Stage three comes after the crisis has past and the criminal is gone. You start to become depressed, you may feel apathetic, you get angry, you may become reclusive. What’s going on is that you become obsessed with reviewing your own behavior. "I could have done something differently." You begin to feel stupid.
This is the most troublesome stage of recovery—this self-review. You cannot have a more critical person than yourself reviewing your behavior. No judge will ever be as harsh to you as you’ll be to yourself. It’s really self-hatred, because you’re reviewing in "peacetime" what you did in "wartime." This is the stage when people generally need help.
The fourth stage is resolution—when you integrate what happened into your life and feel able to move forward. What retards progress towards stage four for everyone is that third phase of self-recrimination. That’s the stage where employees really need help.
Interviewer: How can you tell when an employee has become stuck in stage three?
Dr. Symonds: A good indicator is a sudden drop in work performance. Often the worker seemed to be fine right after the trauma—that’s the frozen-up denial of stage one. Weeks or sometimes months may go by. Then you see a sudden drop in work performance, a change in behavior—absenteeism, long lunch hours, noticeable drinking. At that point, you need to get help for that person.
Interviewer: What can you do to help an employee move forward?
Dr. Symonds: The antidote to that rising self-hatred—the absolutely essential antidote—is compassion. The employee needs somebody to listen nonjudgmentally. This is tremendously important. The listener has to take one position and stick to it, "If you survived, you did the right thing."
We never know what we’ll do under extreme stress. We tend to be ingratiating and pleasing, thinking of survival. We do things which make us think, "I can’t face what I did. I never imagined I’d do something like that."
I once saw a doctor who said, "I’m going to tell you something, and I’ll be angry that I told you. When this guy held me at gunpoint, I promised him free medical care for the rest of his life if he’d let me go." You must tell the person, "Whatever you did was the right thing to do."
Interviewer: Why do people respond this way to violence?
Dr. Symonds: Most of us try to deny helplessness. If you or I were to be hit by a car, the first thing we’d do is try to get up and walk away. We would feel embarrassed that we were hit by a car. Denial is the problem. Some people are really ashamed that something happened to them.
Interviewer: What about the employee who seems to have gotten over the trauma?
Dr. Symonds: Be careful. Sometimes it takes weeks or months to become aware of how the experience affected you. There’s a symptom-free period in everyone.
Interviewer: What kinds of treatment are recommended?
Dr. Symonds: The first line of treatment is to process the experience. For example, when TWA sent me to the Rome airport to deal with the flight reservation clerks who were caught in the gunfire and grenades, what they basically had was an entire group of people who felt reluctant to go back to work.
I said, "You must let them talk about it." As soon as they started to talk, they realized they had all gone through the same experience. They realized it was okay to be frightened. It was a release.
Interviewer: Is there anything specific a company can do immediately after an incident of violence?
Dr. Symonds: The first and most vital thing is to give a compassionate response. Say, "We’re glad you’re safe." Show concern from the top down. Welcome the person back as you would a family member who had overcome a grave illness.
TWA had a big luncheon for the employees who survived the violence at the airport. A senior vice president flew in to express his gratitude to them and his happiness that everybody survived. I thought that was tremendous.
Interviewer: What about resuming work?
Dr. Symonds: I encourage people to go back to work as soon as they can. Staying away isn’t helpful. Going back to work means returning to an experience of work intimacy—there are people around you who like you and with whom you share a common experience, common interests.
Interviewer: What if the employee is afraid to come back to work?
Dr. Symonds: My reply is, "Everyone has to work. If you feel that the violent experience is likely to recur, that’s one thing, if the chances are remote, don’t let it govern your life." Most of us try to live thinking of things that are likely to happen, not things that are remote possibilities. Otherwise we get stalled in life. I say, "I think I would go back to work."
Interviewer: What if an employee simply doesn’t want to come back?
Dr. Symonds: People do have a tendency to become reclusive and abrasive in the third stage. In a case like that, professional help is definitely needed. The person has become focused on loss—on the loss of a self-image. The typical obsessions are, "I should have helped that guy, I did nothing, I’m not the person I thought I was." They keep on trying to repair that lost self-image, which can’t be done. They become stuck in the mourning phase.
Here’s what I told the hostages involved in an airplane hijacking. "You died on that plane. They could have killed you, now you have a new life. What you do with it is up to you." You have to move them away from that focus on the past.
Interviewer: Should employers make changes in the job, if necessary?
Dr. Symonds: I think so. Sometimes employees won’t want to work certain hours any more or in certain areas. I’m strongly in favor of making any reasonable accommodation. If you do have some job latitude, now is the time to give it.
It may seem simpler just to let that employee retire and get a replacement. But other employees are watching very closely to see what happens to victims. You’re setting up a model. It has an enormous impact on everyone.
Interviewer: What impact does the trauma victim’s treatment have on overall morale?
Dr. Symonds: It’s significant. Co-workers are really watching for these messages. You know, most organizations are fathering institutions rather than mothering institutions—they tell you what you did wrong, not what you did right. There’s a nurturing quality that has to be consciously exercised.
It doesn’t cost anything to tell someone, "I’m glad you’re all right." But that simple sentence—coming from your boss or your boss’s boss—can mean a tremendous amount to a person.
Interviewer: How do you train managers in handling trauma victims sensitively?
Dr. Symonds: It can’t be trained. Compassion can’t be trained, it can only be modeled by example.
When I was a medical student, I had a professor who always asked a patient’s permission before examining them. He was a wonderful doctor. That made me say, "When I’m a physician, that’s what I’m going to do." Nobody could have taught that to me. I learned it by seeing it demonstrated.
If a company’s executives demonstrate compassion, other people pick it up. It becomes a form of behavior that’s acceptable. It becomes "the way we do things around here." It doesn’t really cost any money. You can bet employees know when a company cares about them. It’s the difference between relating to people in a patronizing way and relating to them in a humanizing way.
After the Disaster: A Children’s Mental Health Checklist
Reprinted with Permission FEMA 500 C Street, SW Washington, D.C. 20472, Phone: (202) 646-4600
Disasters can be particularly traumatic to children. Sometimes, it can be difficult to determine the extent of the psychological trauma, and whether or not professional mental health services are indicated. This checklist is one way to assess a child’s mental health status.
Add up the pluses and minuses to obtain a final score. If the child scores more than 35, it is suggested you seek a mental health consultation.
Is the child showing any of the following as NEW behaviors for more than three weeks after the disaster?
Note: Preoccupation with death, unusual accident proneness or suicidal threats are reasons for immediate consultations. It is also recommended that any child who has been seriously injured or who has lost a parent, sibling or caregiver by death, have a psychological evaluation and/or brief therapy.
Note: This checklist was developed under the auspices of Project COPE, a federal funded (FEMA) crisis counseling program activated in Santa Cruz, California, in response to the October 17, 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. The project provided individual, family and group counseling, agency debriefing services and a school intervention program. Over the course of 16 months, the project provided services to more than 25,000 individuals. Peter J. Spofford, M.S. served as Project COPE Director.
Coping with your Loss and Grief
By Vicki L. Schmall, Extension Gerontology Specialist, Oregon State University. © Oregon State Extension Service. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Life is filled with changes. Sometimes those changes involve loss. When we lose someone or something important to us, we grieve. Although the death of a loved one is generally the most intensely and deeply felt loss, many life changes can involve loss and cause us to grieve.
Loss is painful. It represents an ending. In his book, Transitions, William Bridges says, "Endings are experiences of dying. They are ordeals and sometimes challenge so basically our sense of who we are that we believe they will be the end of us…" Every area of life—physical, emotional, spiritual, and social—can be affected by a major loss.
The pain created by a loss is an emotional wound that needs healing. For the healing to occur, we need to grieve for the loss and all it represents. If we do not allow ourselves to grieve, the wound may scab over, but not heal completely.
Grieving is hard work and involves a range of feelings. It requires that we make adjustments, learn new skills, and take charge of our lives. It can leave us physically and emotionally exhausted. However, if avoided, grieving can create its own problems. We can become physically or emotionally ill and not be able to move forward and fully experience life.
What You Can Expect
Learning about grief is helpful. Although knowing what’s happening does not erase the pain, it can reduce the fear. Although everyone experiences loss and grief, no two people respond to the same situation in exactly the same way.
The most common initial reaction to a significant loss is denial and shock. You may have felt "This can’t really be happening" or "It’s a bad dream." You may have felt emotionally numb. This numbness is said to be nature’s way of helping us through an experience that otherwise would be overwhelmingly intolerable and painful. It serves to deaden the pain and give us the time we need to absorb what has happened, mobilize our internal resources, and prepare for the difficult times ahead.
Once the numbness lifts, we are hit with the reality of the loss. You are likely to experience a range of emotions from tremendous sadness to helplessness, anger, guilt, or fear. You may experience erratic shifts in mood.
Anger and guilt tend to be difficult emotions for many people. Anger is especially confusing when it is felt towards the person who died; yet, this feeling is common. It’s important to remember that feelings are neither right or wrong, nor good or bad; they just are. It’s what we do with those feelings that is either good or bad. If we don’t resolve these feelings, we may direct the anger at others in hurtful ways or become severely depressed. In dealing with pain, it is important to avoid creating more pain for yourself or others.
Working through grief requires taking one moment, one hour, one day at a time. At times, you may find it hard to believe you will ever get over the intense and painful feelings, but you will adjust—if you want to.
Successful adjustment does not mean you become "your old self again." You will be changed by the experience—life will be forever different. However, you do have a choice. You can choose to learn and grow from a painful or tragic experience or become embittered.
Successful adjustment also does not mean you forget the person who died or whatever loss you have experienced. It means that you are able to remember and talk about "what was" without it causing the "stabbing pain" it once did.
Common Reactions to Grief
Grief causes tremendous turmoil in every aspect of life and involves a wide range of physical, emotional, and spiritual responses. You may find yourself overwhelmed and frightened by the feelings, thoughts and emotions. Any of the following can be characteristic—and are normal.
Physical
Grief can cause physical symptoms. Your body "feels" the emotional loss.
Behavioral
Feelings
Thought patterns
Many different thought patterns occur during grief. When not understood as normal, some people fear they are going crazy.
Spiritual
Even if you have a strong faith, you may find it is shaken by a significant loss.
How You Can Help Yourself
To successfully work through your grief, you must experience the emotional pain. You can’t deaden it, run away from it, or escape it in any other way if you are truly going to come out of it a whole and healthy person. While you will need the support from others, there are things you can do to help yourself move through a loss experience and begin to put your life together again.
Accept and talk about your feelings
One of the most harmful things you can do is to bottle up your feelings. Denying or repressing feelings often intensifies and prolongs working through grief. It’s been said that sorrow, which is never spoken, is the heaviest load to bear. An old Turkish proverb states "He that conceals his grief finds no remedy for it." People who avoid conscious grieving generally break down emotionally, physically, or both.
It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to be angry. It’s okay to be sad. You may think you are going crazy. This is a common reaction. You are not losing your mind—you are only reacting to your loss.
Most people find that talking about their feelings helps them to deal with and accept their loss. Some find that doing something physical—for example, pounding a pillow or screaming out loud in a private place—is helpful. In whatever way you express your feelings, be sure it is not harmful to others or yourself.
If you don’t let your feelings out, they will come out at some other time or in some other way. You may become depressed or physically ill. An emotion that is denied expression is not destroyed. Expressing feelings and thoughts in a journal may be helpful. Write about your feelings.
I feel betrayed because…
I feel scared because…
I feel angry because…
Keeping a journal also can provide a way to measure your progress. It can help to look at what you wrote 2 or 6 months ago and compare it with the present.
Give yourself the time you need
Grieving takes time. It can’t be hurried. Just as it takes time for broken bones to heal, it takes time for broken hearts and spirits to heal.
There is no fixed time period for grieving. It varies from person to person. However, many people do not understand grief and may think you can just "snap out of it" or "should be getting over it" much sooner than is realistic. Try not to judge yourself by the expectations of others.
Grieving is not something we can just "snap out of." One must grow out of it, and that takes time and effort.
Accept support from others
With a physical wound we allow others to take care of us; we also need to do the same with emotional wounds. Accept the support and help of others. Don’t expect family and friends to "read your mind" and know when you need help and the specific help you need—they can’t. It’s important, too, not to build a wall around yourself and distance yourself from others for fear of being hurt again.
If others do not offer help, ask for it. Often people don’t help because they don’t know what to do. They may be afraid of making a mistake—of saying or doing the "wrong thing"—or feel awkward.
Having the support of at least one other person is critical to adjustment. People who have no support are most likely to do poorly. Find someone who will listen nonjudgmentally and accept your feelings, and with whom you feel comfortable talking freely. Recognize that some of your family and friends may be uncomfortable with your feelings and want you to be your "old self" again.
It’s also often difficult for family to support each other when each family member is grieving. Communicating with family and respecting each family member’s way of grieving are important to coping and growing as a family through grief.
If you don’t have family or a friend you can talk to about your feelings, consider a support group. Attending a support group of persons experiencing a similar loss can be therapeutic and a source of hope, understanding, and encouragement. Information about support groups in your area may be available from the pastoral care or social work department at the hospital, the local mental health center, your clergy, hospice program, or senior center.
Resume your daily routine
The sooner you can return to your daily activities, the better. Search for activities that are meaningful to you—this can help give a new purpose to life. Social activity in general has a positive influence on adjustment. Some people have found that one of the best ways to move through grief is to do something for someone else. This does not mean you forget what has happened. But involvement in activities can help fill the void created by a loss. Making yourself get up at a certain time every day, writing a list of tasks for yourself, and staying productive can give you a sense of control. If you depended upon your partner to structure your life for you, you may find it particularly difficult to develop interests.
Be good to yourself
Months after the death of her husband, Juliet wrote, "I always thought that grief was an emotion and probably mental. I was shocked, and still am, at the effects on the body."
The stress of grief can cause physical problems. Research shows that people who experience a significant loss, particularly the death of a loved one, are more likely to become ill within six months after the loss. This is also a time when you may be more accident prone and more vulnerable to a flare-up of an existing medical condition.
Eating well, getting adequate sleep and rest, and exercising regularly are important. Exercise helps reduce stress, work off frustrations, and aid sleep.
If you are under a doctor’s care for a pre-existing medical condition, do not discontinue that care.
Avoid alcohol and unnecessary medications
A mild sedative or tranquilizer may provide some initial needed relief. However, drugs or alcohol taken to reduce or mask the pain are harmful—they only stop, delay, or prolong grief, which means you’ll simply have to face the loss later. Sedating medication, if used at all, should be only a temporary measure to help you through the initial shock.
Postpone major decisions
Postpone making major decisions—for example, moving, giving away possessions, or reinvesting finances—until after the period of intense grief, if at all possible. Whatever can wait should wait.
Emotions impair judgment, and major decisions made during a time of emotional upheaval are frequently regretted later. You need time to reestablish balance in your life, regain self-confidence, and find out what the "new you" will need and want. Remaining in a familiar environment can provide a sense of security and stability at a time of emotional upheaval.
Expect hard times
Evenings, weekends, or special events—birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays—are generally difficult during the first year following divorce or the death of a loved one. Analyze what it is that makes certain times especially difficult and then make specific plans for those times. Working through hard times is a highly individual task. Schedule activities that you find particularly comforting during these time periods.
A certain day of the week or time of day, favorite foods, colognes, music, or events can also make you painfully aware of a person’s absence. Any place or event that is closely associated with a person who died—going to church or participating in certain activities—may be temporarily painful for you.
Holidays, and especially family gatherings, can be particularly difficult after a divorce or death. These events may only serve to remind you of the changes in your life. Festive occasions, especially shortly after a death, are often difficult because of the expectation that we "should" be happy, should be having a great time. The difference between these "shoulds" and our actual feelings often increase our sense of loss. To make these events easier:
Seek professional help if needed
If your grief persists, if you lash out in anger at people around you, if you become depressed and feel life is hopeless, or if you are considering suicide, seek professional help. Depression can complicate the grieving process and it requires treatment.
Psychologists, psychiatrists, clergy, social workers, counselors, and grief therapists can all help a person who is grieving. They can help us adjust to loss, find solutions to difficult situations, and resolve feelings such as anger, guilt, or despair which may keep us from fully functioning.
Conclusion
There are no easy answers or short cuts to working through grief. It’s a difficult process and it takes time—sometimes, a very long time. It cannot be accomplished without pain, but the pain will diminish. Remember, too, it is not possible to get back to "normal," if "normal" means the way things used to be. Life has changed.
Most importantly, have realistic expectations of yourself. Grief takes time and hard work. You will get better. Although some days you may just seem to exist, gradually you will feel better and better. Grief is like an ocean—it ebbs and flows; sometimes it rolls in gently; other times it pounds hard. With time, the pain of grief will lessen, or in Juliet’s words, "I have come to the place where memories are sweet, not painful as they were at first."
Excerpted from Are You Ready? Your Guide to Disaster Preparedness published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, © March 1992. Reprinted with permission.
People are forced to evacuate more often than you may realize. Hundreds of times each year, transportation or industrial accidents release harmful substances, forcing thousands of people to leave their homes and go to a safer area. Fires and floods cause evacuation even more frequently. And almost every year people along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts need to evacuate in the face of approaching hurricanes.
As a result, evacuation planning has been in progress for many years. Specific evacuation plans vary by area and by disaster, so contact your local emergency management or civil defense office for your community’s plan.
If an evacuation is called for in your community, local officials will provide information via television and radio broadcasts. Government agencies, the American Red Cross and other disaster relief organizations will provide emergency shelter and supplies. But just in case, you should plan to have enough water, food, clothing and emergency supplies to last at least three days. In the event of a catastrophic national emergency, you could need to be self-sufficient for at least two weeks.
The amount of time you have to evacuate your home or community will depend on the disaster. If the disaster is a hurricane or other severe storm that can be monitored, you could have a day or two to get ready. But many disasters offer no time at all for people to gather even the most basic necessities. This is why you should prepare now.
Planning for Evacuation
Gather emergency supplies for you and your family in case of evacuation. Collect these crucial materials, especially food and water, well in advance of disaster – once you are told to evacuate, you may have only minutes to leave.
Review possible evacuation procedures with your family so that everyone understands what to do and where to meet if you are separated.
Ask a friend of relative outside your area to be the "checkpoint" so that everyone in the family can call that person to say they are safe.
Find out where children will be sent if they are in school when an evacuation in announced.
Plan now where you would go if you had to evacuate. Consider the homes of relatives or friends.
Contact the local emergency management or civil defense office for community evacuation plans.
Keep fuel in your car at all times. During emergencies, filling stations may be closed. Never store extra fuel in the garage.
If you do not have a car, make transportation arrangements with friends, neighbors or your local emergency management office.
Know how to shut off electricity, gas and water at main switches and valves. Make sure you have the tools you would need to do this (usually pipe and crescent or adjustable wrenches). Check with your local utilities for instructions.
What to Do When You are Told to Evacuate
Listen to a battery-powered radio and follow the instructions of local officials.
Wear protective clothing and sturdy shoes.
Gather water, food and emergency supplies.
Close and lock doors and windows.
If there is time, secure your house.
Follow recommended evacuation routes. Do not take shortcuts! They may be blocked.
Listen to the radio for emergency shelter information.
Carry a disaster supplies kit.
Returning Home
Do not return to the emergency site until authorities say it is safe.
Continue listening to the radio for information and instructions.
Use extreme caution when entering buildings—structures may be been damaged or weakened. Beware of poisonous snakes in flooded structures and debris.
Do not take lanterns, torches or any kind of flame into a damaged building. There may be leaking gas or other flammable materials present. Use battery-operated flashlights for light.
If you smell leaking gas, turn off the main gas valve at the meter.
Notify the power company or fire department if you see fallen or damaged electrical wires.
If appliances are wet, turn off the main electrical power switch in your home before you unplug them. Dry out appliances, wall switches and sockets before you plug them in again—call utility companies for guidance.
Check food and water supplies for contamination and spoilage before using them. Follow specific instructions from your local health department or agriculture extension agency.
Wear sturdy shoes when walking through debris or broken glass, and use heavy gloves when removing debris.
After the emergency has passed, telephone or telegraph your family and friends to tell them you are safe.
Defusings: The Initial Intervention After Traumatic Events
Goals of a Defusing
Defusings Have Two Parts
Introduction
Education and Support
1. Describe some of the common first reactions to trauma and ask employees to add to the list from their experience. (Let them know everyone reacts differently and the reactions they are having are normal for them.)
2. Describe some of the thoughts and feelings employees may have in the next 12 to 72 hours. (Stress that some people may have none of the reactions and that is normal too.)
Physical
Intellectual
Behavioral
Emotional
3. Explain that with time most of these symptoms gradually go away. Encourage employees to make special efforts to take care of themselves during the recovery period. Suggest that they:
4. Encourage employees to start a buddy system to help each other with phone calls and visits.
5. Encourage employees to call the EAP and to use the 24-hour hotline for added support.
6. Inform employees of other assistance that is available through the company.
Recovering From A Crisis Situation
by M.A. Legaz, M.S.W.
If you or someone you know has experienced a frightening situation, overwhelming danger or a sudden loss of security, you may experience what is commonly called "post traumatic stress." In other words, after a very scary or difficult situation, you may experience significant stress or discomfort.
It is important to remember even a "perceived" or "imagined" threat of violence or danger can be as emotionally disturbing as a real threat of violence. When a person experiences an event as life-threatening, it shatters one's basic assumptions about self and the world we live in.
Immediately after the traumatic experience, a person may not feel anything except numbness and shock. As time goes on, more feelings emerge and many people find themselves "replaying" the event over and over in their heads, creating different scenarios about what they could have done differently. Some people just can't forget the uncontrollable feelings of terror, helplessness and the loss of control they felt at the time. It is not unusual to feel hyper-alert or jumpy, to have difficulty going to sleep, or emotionally withdrawn from friends and loved ones. Anxiety, anger and depression are common early
responses. Over time, one may find themselves experiencing some of the following signs and symptoms of stress:
Physical
Intellectual
Behavioral
Responses to a frightening event are individual and the preceding symptoms are normal reactions that can vary in severity and duration. Following are ideas and suggestions to help deal with whatever reactions and feelings are experienced.
*Talk to someone who will listen and allow you to experience your feelings. The most important supportive people may be your work group. Very possibly you have gone through the trauma together and they know how you're feeling. Talking to co-workers about your individual feelings and supporting one another in a non-judgmental way is part of the healing and recovery process. Not talking about your feelings will not make them go away. As you express your feelings, understand that these feelings are normal reactions to an abnormal situation. Share with co-workers and family what you saw, heard, touched, smelled, etc. It's okay to recreate the experience as it happened. It will help you not to imagine or fantasize the situation and to deal with what affected you the most.
*Talk to your family and friends. They need to know what's happening to you. Don't shut them out or underestimate their ability to understand and deal with life's traumas. Involve them in ways they can support you: meeting for lunch, taking you to or picking you up from work, going for a walk together. This provides both exercise and a time to share.
*Use your community. Call your EAP, minister, physician, counselor, the local crisis line, etc.
*Use extra precautions with your safety. Precautions allow you to regain a feeling of control over your life.
*Take care of yourself. Be sure to find time to exercise and eat well. Avoid drugs and alcohol. Ask for assistance from family and friends, delegate simple daily tasks that may feel overpowering right now.
*Continue talking to people over time and share what has been happening to you since the event. Are you experiencing tension, poor concentration, the need for longer lunch breaks, sleeplessness, irritability, tardiness, nightmares, crying spells, etc.? As you share your feelings with others, the reactions will begin to fade over a period of time. It is important to allow yourself time to grieve and for your feelings of security to heal at their own pace. Keep in mind that who you are, your personal values, the amount of social support you have and other life events you have experienced are all factors that will affect the resolution of a traumatic event. It is important to integrate this event into your life and not try to "forget" it ever happened.
*Sometimes it takes weeks or months to become aware of how the event affected you. Denying that a frightening event has affected you can be a major problem in integrating the experience into your life. No one will be entirely symptom free.
*Other events in your life may trigger vivid memories of this trauma and new sudden feelings. If you find that your reactions are seriously disrupting your ability to work or maintain relationships with others, please consider seeking professional counseling.
Copyright 2000, Today's Life™