Our minds hate ambiguity. This is one of the reasons why COVID was so difficult. There was no timeline as to when restrictions would end and life would go back to normal. The lack of a clearly defined end to COVID also created a strange before, during, and after that folks struggle to explain. In a way, the few days leading up to Hurricane Milton are similar.
Approximately one week ago, there was not a lot of concern for the state of Florida weather-wise. Only within the last two or three days has this enormous storm developed. And now, we wait. I was raised for over half my childhood in South Florida and went to college in-state. I have seen my fair share of hurricanes and tropical storms. This feels quite different. And though I now live in Atlanta, I sit here and worry.
Source: NOAA/NESDIS/STAR GOES-East
Waiting on landfall this time feels different than a sense of dread or anxiety. It is like watching a horror movie in slow motion. There is a formula, you know what will happen next. But the slowed-down time is excruciating. Due to my training and many lived experiences, I consider myself good in a crisis. The problem is there is no crisis, only the looming shadow of an approaching catastrophe.
Climate change has supercharged storms like Milton and this will not be the last hurricane to suddenly develop and intensify. The question: How do we, as therapists, help others deal with these sudden, life-changing events? Trauma therapy in the aftermath can be very powerful and help prevent longer-term psychological damage. But, is there something more we can be doing in the run-up to the disaster? Can resiliency be increased before a storm makes landfall?
Adaptive capacity may be the answer. A 2015 working paper from Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters (BRACED), describes the idea of adaptive capacity as the “ability of social systems to adapt to multiple, long-term and future climate change risks,” not only responding after the fact to a crisis. Researching how areas may be affected by supercharged storms, hotter or colder conditions, and dryer or wetter weather would allow insight into the coming changes. The other puzzle piece is to inform the public: What may this look like? Many people have been caught off-guard by climate system changes even though climate scientists have been aware of the coming changes for years. There appears to be a significant disconnect between science and communicating these facts plainly to the public.
Source: NOAA
The mental health space needs to catch up on these changes, too. Earlier this year, Clayton Page Aldern published his excellent book, “The Weight of Nature: How a Changing Climate Changes Our Brains,” full of useful information on how a warming world affects us neurologically. Understanding that hotter days lead to more aggression and lower academic test scores along with the trauma of experiencing weather calamities would go a long way in helping therapists to mitigate these issues for our clients.
Milton has yet to make landfall and I do not have all the answers. But maybe, just maybe we can start a conversation that will increase our adaptive capacity and resiliency to these growing risks.
Source link : https://www.psychologytoday.com/za/blog/bounce-back/202410/hurricane-milton-and-anticipatory-grief
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Publish date : 2024-10-09 12:18:23
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