Hurricanes and severe storms have always been an unwelcome (but inevitable) part of Florida living. But the increasing frequency and severity of hurricanes creates a new problem – increased anxiety and trauma in Floridians.
In other words, storms aren’t just affecting our communities, they’re affecting our mental health.
Hurricanes are unpredictable. Each new season brings renewed fears of injuries to ourselves, losing loved ones, losing our homes, losing our belongings, and even possible loss of life. And if you’ve experienced previous storms, those fears and anxieties can be even more intense.
Many Floridians experience some level of storm anxiety. It’s a very common reaction when faced with powerful, unpredictable, potentially devastating events.
It’s also very common for those who have lived through a severe storm, suffered loss, or seen their surroundings in ruins for weeks after to experience some level of trauma, possibly even PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).
As a leader of behavioral and mental health services in Florida, we’re here to help.
If you think you may be suffering from PTSD, the best thing you can do for yourself is to find professional help. At Elite DNA Behavioral Health, we can help you work through anxiety, trauma, and PTSD. We offer counseling, psychiatry services, and medication management for psychological trauma and physical trauma. Our intensive outpatient programs can help you find relief.
Here’s a more detailed look at some of the trauma counseling services we have available, and the benefits they offer.
Need mental health support this hurricane season? Search for your nearest Elite DNA location in Florida and schedule an appointment today!
After the Storm: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
If you’ve gone through a hurricane, even if you didn’t experience personal loss or damage, it’s perfectly natural to feel traumatized. Just being in proximity to a destructive event and seeing months of media coverage afterward can leave you feeling anxious, depressed, and fearful. Or you may experience the other extreme, feeling numb and dissociated from reality.
Those feelings might continue for days, weeks, or months after the event. This is called “Post-Traumatic Stress” (PTS) – the stress you would feel after traumatic events.
Again, this is a natural response. It’s the mind’s way of trying to protect you from similar experiences in the future.
When those feelings last longer than a month, intensifying and interfering with your ability to go about your everyday life, it’s become a mental health concern. Post-Traumatic Stress has become a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Intense traumatic experiences increase the likelihood of developing PTSD. Those might include being trapped under debris, facing immediate life-threatening circumstances, and losing a loved one or a pet.
Post-hurricane issues, like financial stress or prolonged exposure to the devastation from broadcast or social media, can also contribute to developing post-traumatic stress disorder.
Some symptoms of PTSD are:
- Re-experiencing the event and emotions through flashbacks, bad dreams, or negative thoughts.
- Hypervigilance – a chronic state of heightened awareness and sensory sensitivity that can feel overwhelming and exhausting.
- Actively avoiding places, objects, or people associated with the traumatic event. You may actively work to avoid thinking about the places, objects, or people associated with the event.
- Feeling tense, on edge, prone to angry outbursts, or being easily startled. You might also feel excessively numb and disassociated.
- Having trouble sleeping or concentrating.
In young children, PTSD symptoms often take the form of repetitive play or nightmares.
PTSD often has other co-occurring conditions, such as depression and anxiety.
Treating Trauma & PTSD
Several evidence-based treatment modalities have proven very helpful for PTSD and healing after a storm. Here, we’ll elaborate on several approaches for trauma and PTSD.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy (or “talk therapy”) can be especially helpful. With individual trauma therapy, you’ll talk one-on-one with a therapist in a non-judgmental safe space. You’ll be encouraged to discuss your feelings, concerns, and goals.
Group trauma therapy can also be very helpful. Connecting with others who share your experienced trauma can make you feel understood and less isolated.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapy that helps patients identify, challenge, and change automatic negative thinking patterns. By modifying these thoughts and patterns, patients can better cope with difficult emotions and behaviors.
CBT is a short-term goal-focused modality. And it’s been shown to be highly effective at treating a wide range of mental health conditions, including trauma.
CBT can help you identify and challenge negative thoughts related to a traumatic storm experience. If someone has thoughts like “I’m powerless against storms”, CBT can help you challenge that thought and replace it with “I can find ways to prepare for the next storm and minimize damage.”
There are several specialized forms of CBT, including Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (or TF-CBT). Originally developed to help with childhood trauma, it’s been proven effective for people of all ages struggling with complex trauma experiences. It also provides support for parents and caregivers.
You do not need to have a post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis to benefit from TF-CBT.
Research shows that TF-CBT can successfully treat symptoms associated with single, multiple, or complex traumatic experiences, complex post-traumatic stress disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder because it focuses specifically on the impacts of trauma.
Trauma therapists at Elite DNA Behavioral Health utilize TF-CBT.
Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
EMDR is a modality designed to help people heal the emotional distress caused by traumatic memories. It was initially developed to help those with PTSD but has since been successfully used for several other conditions. Some studies have shown that patients can experience the same healing that would have previously taken years in just a few weeks.
EMDR is focused on processing disturbing memories from traumatic events.
During EMDR trauma therapy, a clinician will guide a patient through recalling a difficult memory. The clinician will simultaneously engage the patient in physical bilateral stimulation, such as eye movements or alternating audial tones in the ears. This helps the brain reprocess the traumatic event and reduce its emotional impact.
EMDR therapy can reduce emotional distress, improve emotional regulation, and reduce avoidance behaviors.
EMDR isn’t necessarily suggested for everyone with PTSD. Your therapist can help you determine if EMDR would be the right treatment for you.
Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)
ART is a comparatively new evidence-based therapy, though it uses principles from both CBT and EMDR. The goal of ART was to help patients find relief from trauma rapidly by reprogramming how the brain stores memories.
Much like EMDR, a clinician will have a patient recall a distressing event or a metaphor for that event during ART. The clinician will simultaneously engage the patient in bilateral eye movements. The clinician will then have you imagine what you wish had happened rather than what did happen. The goal is to have the positive emotion of the preferred event replace the negative emotion of the actual event.
ART treatment is usually fairly brief, and patients tend to find relief quickly.
Your therapist can help you determine if ART would be the right treatment for your circumstances.
Medication Management
In some cases, psychiatry and expertly managed medication can be very helpful when dealing with PTSD. Antidepressants, anti-anxiety medication, and sleeping aids can all offer relief when dealing with trauma symptoms. Medications should only be taken under the supervision of a psychiatrist or psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP).
Psychiatric care providers at Elite DNA can help you determine if medication would be helpful for you. And create a plan to minimize any potential side effects.
Count on Elite DNA in Hurricane Season for Trauma and Mental Health Support
As we head into the height of the Florida hurricane season, it’s important to remember that acute stress symptoms are a normal, healthy reaction.
But as hurricanes become more frequent and more intense, Floridians will likely experience higher levels of trauma. And sometimes those trauma symptoms may become debilitating.
If they do, we’re here to help. Remember, you’re not alone in your experience.
If you’re struggling with PTSD, trauma, anxiety, or other mental health concerns, get in touch and start healing today. With the right support and resources, you can overcome the symptoms of PTSD and other trauma-related disorders. We can help you regain control over your life.
Struggling with storm-related PTSD? We can help! Contact Elite DNA and get started today.
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