Solution
Azra S answered on
Nov 09 2021
Student Name-
Topic Covered- Trauma due to natural disasters
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Table of Contents
Part 1- Reflective Analysis of Trauma due to Natural Disaster 2
Introduction 2
Symptoms 4
Diagnosis 4
What is it like to be traumatized? 5
Treatment 7
Neurobiology 8
Part 2: Reflective Analysis of Studying the Topic 9
Introduction 9
Support resources 11
General reflection on studying trauma 11
Conclusion 14
References 15
Part 1- Reflective Analysis of Trauma due to Natural Disaste
Introduction
Trauma is a psychological and emotional response to a distressing, extremely stressful event which poses a threat to life of an individual or someone else. Trauma occurs when the stress involved exceeds the ability of an individual to cope or figure out the overwhelming feelings and emotions (Van der Kolk, 2003).
Natural disasters come unannounced and, in many cases, cause huge devastation to life and property to people. Many people lose family, possessions and work due to these disasters, many get impaired for life. Thus, natural disasters can cause, not only physical damage but also mental damage to individuals.
Phenomenal Analysis
Trauma resulting from natural disasters is usually caused by events like forest fires, earthquakes, tornados, floods, tsunamis etc. Such events cause trauma to a large population at once and result in mass situations of Survivor Guilt and PTSD (Madianos & Evi, 2010). Losses caused by natural disasters may include but are not restricted to
· Death of loved ones, relatives, friends.
· Houses
· Personal Belongings
· Communities
· Social economic losses
Initial stage of shock and grief due to extreme emotional stress is experienced by every single individual who goes through such disasters. Thereafter, the mental health of the severely affected deteriorates leading to anxiety, depression and trauma (Madianos, & Evi, 2010)
Objective Analysis
Symptoms
Symptoms of trauma do not follow a universal pattern. They differ from person to person. However, trauma post natural disaster is mostly characterized by the following symptoms-
· Reoccu
ing dreams about or related to the incident.
· Flashbacks
· Distu
ing thoughts and image
· Avoiding situations or sites which resemble or reminds of the event
· Sense of self-blame or blame others.
· Self hurt
· Sleep distu
ances
· Distorted belief about the event.
· Pulling away from others.
· Lack of interest in activities previously found interesting.
· ‘Numbing’ or appearing unaffected.
· Selective memory loss.
· Aggressive behavior when faced with similar situations.
· Distu
ing thoughts of the incident/disaster flashbacks ho
ifying (Briere, & Hedges, 2010)
Diagnosis
If this kind of distu
ance and symptoms continue for more than a month, the individual is diagnosed with PTSD. PTSD refers to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is the most widespread psychological distu
ance in patients of trauma.
Other “Trauma and stressor-related disorders” according to the DSM-5 include:
· Acute Stress Disorde
· Adjustment Disorders
· Reactive Attachment Disorder (Greenberg, Brooks, & Dunn, 2015)
What is it like to be traumatized?
Natural disasters are not ordinary events and they
ing with them not only destruction to physical structures and buildings but cause great loss of life. Those who manage to survive physically unharmed are left with, in most cases, lifelong trauma to deal with. Ho
ifying memories and loss to personal property along with fear always stay with the survivors. Victims face episodes of shock, ho
or as they witness loss of life and belongings (Clemens, Be
y , McDermott, & Harper, 2013).
Just watching death so close is itself ho
ifying. In a natural disaster, thousands of such deaths occur and cause pain. Watching a stranger go through such pain and loss and being helpless causes pain and regret.
It is innate in human nature to want to help others. To be in a situation where you feel helpless or worse when you cling for your life while ignoring someone else who is injured or dies before you because you were trying to save yourself renders a person with lifelong guilt and pain.
Displacement leaves a person who was well-off just a day ago, struggling with little or in many cases no financial backup or place to resort to because of having lost everything in the natural disaster. This makes them feel paralyzed and helpless.
Survivors who watch others die often have thoughts like, I should have died with everyone or why am I the only one who survived, or how could I survive while everyone else died. These thoughts create feelings of guilt in survivors and cause depression. It makes them feel that it was wrong to survive or it was because they survived that everyone else died. Such thoughts can be very damaging to the mental health of survivors (Clemens, Be
y, McDermott, & Harper, 2013).
Many survivors have episodes of recu
ing constant voices of the natural forces (be it a hu
icane, earth quake, flood,) voices of people yelling for help and in groaning voices keeping their pain constant.
Natural trauma disrupts/changes the survivor’s very basic beliefs about their identity relationships, how they view the world and people and spirituality. People start questioning their belief in God and the power God has and why bad things happened if there is one.
Coping mechanisms are developed by survivors to deal with trauma but sometimes these coping mechanisms tend to be hurtful and cause more damage. People repress their feelings and refuse to address their feelings, these repressed and unaddressed feelings tend to maximize the neurobiological factors due to trauma, the body stays in the fight-flight mode and the symptoms worsen rendering it impossible to return to normal life.
Aftermath of natural disasters worsens the situation for survivors. This is because it is not only a single person/individual/family which has gone through the ho
or. The entire city/state is ravaged by after effects. Constant news, videos of...