Your Chance To Live: Psychological Response (1970s)

e [Music] Lisa all of you are here because you have happened to have been in a disaster of one kind of another and all of you have developed some emotional problems as a result of it some people do and you are one of them and if you keep on silent or crying we will never know what happened and we will never be able to help you I would like you really to encourage you to start talking and tell us what has happened two summers ago we were at the beach and I was there with uh my husband Al and our two children and we had a hurricane warning and I except it got very bad for Lisa Oliver and her family a late summer vacation at the beach began with every hope for a wonderfully relaxing [Music] week but suddenly in the wild pounding of hurricane winds and rains that bright hope turned into a tragedy of the loss of two small [Music] children for parents the agony of losing children is beyond anything describable but this Agony is increased tfold when parents blame themselves entirely for the loss often the fact that the tragedy was caused by a natural disaster over which they had absolutely no control cannot soothe their minds they internalize their problems a normal existence becomes impossible was anyone living in the house yes and there's a ol of a boy and his wife and two little children there little children they got down it's indeed very tragic I can understand you know how you feel and no you can't because it was my fault because I want wanted to stay Al didn't want to stay I wanted to stay I wanted to see that hurricane and I don't have any more children I was selfish I didn't think of my children I I thought of you have made a mistake but you could not have predicted of what would happen when you made it people do make mistakes but I I think you are making another mistake right now you are holding it all in you are not talking about it to all and even maybe to other people and you that's why you are here we want you to talk we want you to talk about it and tell us how you feel in disasters people very often are confronted by unexpected situations which may not affect them physically but may affect them emotionally when iten these emotional effects vary in intensity from minor discomfort to severe anxiety today more attention is being given to people's emotional reactions to emergency situations mental health professionals working with individuals or groups encourage people to share their experiences this is the vital first step in helping these people understand why they feel as they do the vital first step in relieving and invisible but very real hurt you see you have to make a decision a decision is do you want to stay the way you are or really do you want to start again building up the trust you had in each other and the love that you have for each other and tell us about yourself what brought you here um I go to school out of state when I heard over the radio that there had been an earthquake in my hometown yes I called right away and couldn't get through for 2 days and there was nothing I could do my mother works in the hospital and it um collapsed around her I I thought there was a good chance that my mother and my sister could have um been killed and the things that go through your mind and I just realized how much um I love them and and what would I do without them and so I decided to go home to be with them people not Direct caught up in a disaster can nevertheless be affected emotionally by it people far away from a disaster people whose friends or relatives are caught up in that disaster can feel great anxiety because of their inability to help even though they may realize that their presence would have made little difference they are unable to escape the feeling that they should have been nearby to share problems and dangers with their loved [Music] ones I it's okay but there seems to be some problem with this why are you here what brought you here uh well my mother see um I quit I I withdrew from school for a while are you going back uh when I um it just depends on how I feel right now I don't want to go back to school I just don't have any desire to be there I just I want to be with my um with my family for the sister took care of your mother in the disaster but you were aware you couldn't do that so now you want to be the Super caretaker and take care of your mother I just feel that um I make things a little I don't know I just every time I'm away from them I can't every time when I'm not with my sister or my mother I just my I just think I'm really a very good feeling to be always able to be of help sometimes it's not quite possible is it well I wasn't of any help at all yeah uh as a matter of fact you were safe at the time in which your mother was in danger exactly uh it just happened that you were safe at that moment I'm wondering who is going to take care of you oh um what do you mean but I mean that at this time you are still very young and you are the student you are the child the older child but you are in the family and you want to take care of your mother don't you want someone to take care of you to take care of me that's right um well nothing's happened well I guess that's why I'm here yes I think so because you really would like someone to take care of you but you feel so guilty about it as if this was unnatural on your part now you want to be the still super caretaker and take care of mother instead I wonder is it really necessary well it's just how I feel Chuck you heard what an said is it something like this that happened to you well apparently um uh I have some of the same kinds of feeling I happen to have been on a camping trip with my son and you know we are very close uh Scott and I are uh have done many things together uh we go to movies together we uh play ball together and we're very very close and we were planning this camping trip for quite a while and uh so we got up into the woods and suddenly uh there we were in the middle of this forest fire [Music] [Music] even people who handle emergency situations with a great deal of assurance may still suffer emotional stress afterward often they find themselves dwelling on what might have happened to themselves or others even though they escape physically unharmed they may still experience persist feelings of anxiety due to the event of having been thrust into a frightening situation over which they have no control as a matter of fact from what you are telling me you did a terrific job not only preparing for the trip but actually saving yourself and yet you feel so bad and so guilty about it why what happened well I still look back on uh the possibility of um Scott perishing in in that fight um a couple of times I ran ahead of him and was very selfish in my actions I didn't watch for him and as I looked back on that that could have been the danger that could have been the turning point in the loss of Scott do you know what I think you are saying or doing from what you describe about yourself and you know your son you were always on this big white horse and you were always the perfect father you were doing everything right and nothing has happened and suddenly you are off the horse and then you are saying to yourself gee I'm human and you are saying to yourself that's bad is it and I think what has happened is that he was always the perfect father and now suddenly he isn't because he was maybe he made a mistake which I don't think he did maybe he endangered his son he she didn't do it on purpose with premeditation no none of us did of course not how about that you suddenly see that yourself don't you I know how it feels because you know I work at the San Fernando Valle child gu clinic and in 1971 we went through the earthquake people should of course prepare themselves as thoroughly as possible for emergency situations the more thoroughly people are prepared the more realistically they will react in an emergency emergencies place an enormous emotional stress on people even those who deal adequately with day-to-day situations may find themselves temporarily unable to cope with a crisis generated by Expos exposure to a major natural disaster or other emergency [Music] event for those who cannot cope with these frightening experiences a new recognition of their problems has recently emerged and along with that recognition the techniques available to the mental health professional can help this help begins with sharing not bottling up deeply felt personal emotions most people have relatives or friends a minister or a doctor who will listen to and understand concerns and fears engendered by an emergency spoken these concerns and fears tend to shrink locked inside they may grow but if sharing problems is not sufficient help from a private doctor or local Mental Health Center should be sought for as surely as a broken leg must be set emotional trauma caused by exposure to emergency situations must be attended to you know we really understood today I believe how talking together about what has happened particularly in disasters or in any crisis can help people I just wish that um those people who really do develop emotional problems following a disaster or following a crisis could seek some help like you did that was really very good and I'm glad you came and and and I and I hope you that this session helped all of you feel a bit better very good at least it's a start [Music]