Hurricane Effects on Humans Mental Health
There are few natural disasters as detrimental to infrastructure and human life as a hurricane. Being located in Southwest Florida, we know a great deal about hurricanes and how they can impact someone’s physical, mental, and financial well-being. Whether it is the loss of a home, property damage, or the devastation that one of these storms leaves your hometown, there are many reasons why people may be dealing with trauma. As an experienced grief and loss therapy training program in Florida, we can provide you with some very useful information on the impact that hurricanes and other natural disasters have on someone’s well-being. If you are interested in learning more about hurricane effects on humans, continue reading below to learn more from Counseling of Southwest Florida.
How Do Hurricanes Affect a Person’s Life?
How do hurricanes impact humans? Hurricanes affect a person’s life in a number of different ways. There are many reasons why someone would need help processing the trauma that a hurricane leaves in its wake. A person’s life can be impacted by a hurricane in ways that are as minor as losing power for a few days or as impactful as losing a home or a loved one. It is no secret that hurricanes bring storm surges and high-powered winds to coastlines and other areas that are in their paths. These natural forces could tear down power lines or cause flooding that is so powerful that it carries debris at fast speeds that could result in walls being torn down or homes being destroyed by flooding.
Aside from the financial toll that hurricane damage could cause your home, it could also represent significant emotional trauma or damage because what was once your safe space could feel intruded on or desecrated. It could also be damaging to see your once beautiful interior destroyed by water damage or brute force. Also, many homes have items that hold sentimental value. These one-of-a-kind items being destroyed by hurricanes could cause a feeling of loss that is hardly replicated by losing any other item in a home.
Obviously, one of the primary ways that a hurricane could affect someone’s life is by the storm, causing them to lose a loved one. Dealing with the loss of a loved one in such a tragic way can be incredibly difficult to deal with and may trigger a type of hurricane PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) that will require you to get guidance from experienced professionals. Continue reading to learn from our Fort Myers trauma therapy what hurricane PTSD systems are.
Hurricane PTSD Symptoms
How can hurricanes affect humans? One of the principal ways is by triggering PTSD. Hurricane PTSD is incredibly related to regular PTSD symptoms but with some different characteristics. Since this PTSD is related to weather and storm forecasts, some of the most common aspects of weather forecasts could result in a PTSD-triggering event. Some signs of PTSD as it relates to a hurricane’s effects on humans include the following:
- Distressing memories
- Bad dreams and nightmares
- Severe emotional distress
- Uncontrollable physical reactions when thinking about the event
- Reliance on self-destructive behavior like drinking or drugs
- Depression or anxiety
- Forgetfulness
- Lack of interest in activities that were once pleasurable
More About Counseling of Southwest Florida
How does a hurricane affect humans? The answer lies in how PTSD could impact someone’s psyche. There is a great deal of trauma that could occur from being exposed to disasters. Helping people deal with intense and traumatic events like these is one of our practice’s specialties.
Aside from useful resources like this one that details a hurricane’s effects on humans and hurricane PTSD symptoms, we also make sure to help our customers with a variety of different services. These include Florida addiction therapy and therapy for anger management and other emotional problems.
We understand more than anyone else that there are moments in people’s lives that call for professional help with their issues. Our wide collection of services provided by our Sarasota grief counseling professionals are some of the best available. These include our batterer intervention program help, group therapy for bipolar disorder, marriage counseling in Florida, and more. Contact us today for additional information.
Casey is the founder and CEO of Portner Counseling Group (PCG), a counseling center in the Fort Lauderdale area, which specializes with issues related to drug and alcohol use. Casey has completed focused course work on the physiological aspects of drug addiction and human psychology, as well as received extensive training on the treatment of co-occurring disorders.