When something traumatic happens in our lives it is a natural human reaction to experience resulting stress or even shock.\u00a0 Just as soldiers at war experience post traumatic stress disorder, victims of natural disasters or other catastrophic events can also experience PTSD in varying degrees.\u00a0 The level of distress depends on several factors including age, experience, mental and physical health to name a few.\u00a0 Obviously there is not much we can do to prevent our brain\u2019s natural defense mechanisms from kicking in when such things occur.\u00a0 But there are certain actions we can take to minimize the effects of such trauma and lesson the feelings of stress and shock we may experience as a result.<\/p>\n
Those of us who are actively engaged in disaster preparedness are already aware of the physical and economic threats we face today.\u00a0 We work to prepare ourselves logistically to ensure immediate physical safety by obtaining certain gear and equipment that we know will be needed in such circumstances.\u00a0 Being ready physically also contributes to preparing the mind for what may come.<\/p>\n
Just as we see police officers, firefighters and paramedics undergo extensive training and disaster simulations to help them mentally prepare for their jobs, we see that these professionals typically experience PTSD less often than those who have not had the benefit of such experiences.\u00a0 We can follow this example and do our own version of disaster simulation with our families.<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Try spending a day without electricity in your home and see what life would be like without power.
\n2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pretend that some local disaster has happened and run through your contingency plan as if we\u2019re really happening.
\n3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do a mock evacuation of your home and practice your roles in such an event.\u00a0 Get creative and do something that appeals to your individual needs.\u00a0 Picture that whatever it is you\u2019ve been preparing for takes place using a worse case scenario and practice your plan, your evacuation routes, family meeting place, etc.
\n4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do a run through of what you think you might actually experience in such circumstances.\u00a0 If you have kids, include them \u2013 make a game out of it, make it fun so that they will be involved and mentally ready when the real thing goes down.<\/p>\n
All of these exercises are great ways to prepare yourself and your family for what may come and you may discover some things that you hadn\u2019t thought about before, thus giving you a better idea of anything you might have overlooked in your initial preparations.<\/p>\n
Having a strong social network prior to and immediately following the trigger event can help prevent severe PTSD and lesson the negative emotional affects suffered by the victim.\u00a0 Soon after the incident is over, have a group discussion with family, friends, neighbors or anyone who was present at the time of the trauma and wishes to participate.\u00a0 Discuss what happened, specific things each person witnessed, how it made them feel, etc. Having this opportunity to vocalize emotions in a supportive environment will help to reduce anxiety and provide a feeling of empowerment.<\/p>\n
This article focuses more on the mental aspects of disaster preparedness because it seems that more efforts are focused towards physical rather than mental preparedness.\u00a0 While physical preparedness is of the utmost importance in a survival situation, let\u2019s not forget the fact mental preparedness can also ensure that you make the best use of your tools and plans already in place, and prevent shock, fear and bad decision making when a disaster occurs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When something traumatic happens in our lives it is a natural human reaction to experience resulting stress or even shock.\u00a0 Just as soldiers at war experience post traumatic stress disorder, victims of natural disasters or other catastrophic events can also experience PTSD in varying degrees.\u00a0 The level of distress depends on several factors including age, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[132,167],"class_list":["post-128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-mental-preparedness","tag-preparedness"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.survival-spot.com\/survival-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.survival-spot.com\/survival-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.survival-spot.com\/survival-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.survival-spot.com\/survival-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.survival-spot.com\/survival-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.survival-spot.com\/survival-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18299,"href":"https:\/\/www.survival-spot.com\/survival-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions\/18299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.survival-spot.com\/survival-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.survival-spot.com\/survival-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.survival-spot.com\/survival-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}