Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Hey, friends. I’m not sure if you saw the news, but southern California is on fire. I’m safe, but a lot of friends and acquaintances are not. I’m in this eerie spot where we are very close to the fires, but at very low risk, so “normal” life continues on. Decided to do an episode with some of my tips for getting through disasters like this. See my list below.
- Anxiety vs stress/fight or flight response
- The physical effects and even the cognitive effects can be quite similar.
- The root of panic is the fight or flight response that was designed to give you the temporary boost needed to keep yourself safe.
- Anxiety can make things more difficult but don’t be hard on yourself for having anxiety symptoms – this time they might be doing you a solid.
- Do what you gotta do in the moment.
- Prepping can help with freezing
- Making lists of items to take.
- Establishing a plan.
- Take notes as you go.
- Just put one foot in front of the other. Don’t need to be a super hero – just follow the plan.
- On that note, establish a reasonable plan.
- If it’s a situation where its out of the blue and no planning was done that doesn’t mean everything is hopeless.
- There is no shame on leaning on others. You have your own contributions. Often for anxious people it’s in the planning phase and anticipating possibilities.
- Mentally run through the action plan – not worst case scenarios, but your 1st step, 2nd step, etc.
- cognitive rehearsal and be helpful – you are just following the sequence take some of the stress out of figuring out what to do
- Rest is important – must recover, otherwise bad decisions are likely
- The fight or flight response and general adaptation syndrome from stress is exhausting and unsustainable.
- You need to recover your strength in order to have the best shot at survival.
- It can seem unsafe to rest, but it’s also unsafe to NOT rest.
- Doesn’t necessarily have to be sleep, but sleep is important.
- If you are really worried about missing something or not being aware, sleep in shifts or devise some system for notifications.
- Obviously there are situations where sleep won’t be possible and where you will have intrusions from the environment etc. but making a point to stop being hypervigilant and stop checking for a bit. Get it in where you can.
- Focus on what you do have control over
- This one is really important because it’s easy to fall into hopelessness and panic.
- There are always elements that you do have control over.
- Whether that’s making sure you ate, organizing your space to facilitate escape, or keeping your family entertained.
- It’s important to exert some sort of influence over the situation even if it’s not changing the big picture.
- Mindfulness important for sustaining life during the event and in the aftermath
- I’ve harped on mindfulness a million times, but well trained mindfulness practice can save your ass in a situation where you are trying to resume some semblance of normal life while a crisis situation persists.
- It comes down to being able to accept that there are things going on externally and internally and allowing yourself to focus on the task at hand.
- Find comfort in the small moments and find humor in the ridiculousness
- There will always be small moments of pulling together, moments of sweetness, or even moments of hilarity.
- Allow yourself to laugh at the absurd because it’s okay to admit that things are fucking crazy and nobody is exactly sure what to do.
- Be active in some way, but you don’t need to be everywhere.
- When you are not directly in danger, being active in aiding others can lessen feelings of hopelessness.
- This can take all sorts of forms from money to donations to volunteering your time to even just gathering resources for others and sharing online.
- You don’t need to be everywhere though. You need to take care of yourself otherwise you aren’t going to be able to help them.
- It’s easy to feel pulled in a million directions. If you can focus down on one and do it well, that will make the most difference. It’s just logical.
- Keep routine where you can
- From sleep and wake habits to meals, try to have some sense of normalcy.
- That can help your body understand that it’s not in immediate danger at the moment.
- It’s not denial, you have to realize that the better care you take of yourself, the better you will be able to respond to these things.
- Talk about it – don’t agonize over details, but don’t shy away from the topic
- You don’t need to retraumatize yourself, but don’t shy away from discussing it.
- High likelihood for traumatic memories.
- Processing it from different perspectives with different people can help it not lock in in such a dangerous way.
- Only do what you are comfortable with.
- Feel what you feel – process the grief or the hopelessness – that doesn’t mean you aren’t strong
- Whether you lost things or you’re mourning losses in your community, the grief process may kick start during disaster situations.
- Allow yourself to feel. It sucks, its sad. Feel that sorrow – that doesn’t mean you are going to sink into a hole and not be able to survive.
- There’s nothing wrong with temporarily holding it back and there’s also nothing wrong with feeling it. Holding it back may not be sustainable.
- If you need help, get it.
- There are emergency resources, usually psychiatric resources as well.
- You can also talk to your friends and family around you for support.
- If you have internet access, you have access to support from around the world.
- Manage social media consumption – I suggest making a short list for updates and looking at important family, but not driving yourself crazy with moment to moment updates of the devastation.
- Play Tetris?
- Some research indicates that playing Tetris, or similar puzzle games, in the aftermath of trauma can help override your visual working memory and makes memories of the traumatic event become stored in a less threatening way.
- Not clinical proven yet, but essentially no risk to trying and it also makes a great break to take your mind off of things for a few moments.
Want to submit a question for the podcast?
I'm always taking questions for the podcast, so contact me at robert@duffthepsych.com if you have something you want me to talk about.
Prayers up for everyone effected by this tragedy. Great tips, very useful for a lot of different emotional traumas. I am going to try Tetras to stop the uncontrollable thinking I have regarding my ex cheating. Hopefully it helps me too. Thank you for everything. Stay safe.