How to Cope With the Effects of Emotional Stress after a Hurricane

If you have had the experience of going through a major hurricane, chances are there is some level of emotional stress in your life afterwards. Dealing with a severe hurricane can be very stressful. In many cases, individuals lose everything that they have - their home, their belongings, and their clothes - and this is not easy to contend with. In many instances, individuals have pets, and loved ones that die as a result of the storm. If you feel that you are experiencing emotional stress after a hurricane, the steps listed here will assist you in coping with the emotions that you are experiencing.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. The first thing that you should know and understand is that it is acceptable to feel how you feel. Regardless of whether you suffered personal loss and/or damage or not, hurricanes can take an emotional toll on you. Do not be afraid to allow yourself to let go of the emotions that you are dealing with.

2. It is important to find someone - anyone - to talk to. You should be certain to express your emotions completely. Many times, it just helps to get our emotions all out and this is best done by talking to someone about them. Seek out your friends, members of your family, neighbors, coworkers, or even clergy members. All of these people will be more than happy to talk to you and keep you company during this difficult time.

3. There are many professional counseling services available for individuals who experience a hurricane. In addition to this, there are a number of support groups available that may prove to be helpful towards you.

4. You should try to continue living your life just as you did before you went through the hurricane. Staying busy and trying to maintain some level of normalcy in your life is a very important step in the coping process.

5. If you experienced loss by the way of death, it is important for you to conclude the emotions experienced as a result of these losses by attending funerals and memorials.

6. Last, but not least, never allow yourself to fall victim to the self-blame game. It was not your fault that anything you experienced in the storm happened. Hurricanes are natural disasters, and you played no role in the losses that you experienced.

Resources

• The National Institute of Mental Health

[DeeCee]

on 1/4/2009 Angie,
Very good information. As a survivor of Katrina, I found it is so important to get help when you cannot handle the stress caused by the loss of everything. Great article.

DeeCee

[tikrit01]

on 12/21/2008 Very Informative. 5 stars