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In the Face of Disaster - Traumatic Events · Talking FACS

• 0:01
  Welcome to Talking Facts.
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  What you need to know about family food finance and fitness.
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  This nationally recognized award winning podcast is hosted by the University of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program.
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  Our educators share research knowledge with individuals,
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  families and communities to improve quality of life.
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  Hello and welcome to Talking Facts.
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  What you need to know about family food finance and fitness.
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  I am your host,
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  Mindy mcculley Extension Specialist for instructional support at the University of Kentucky.
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  When natural disaster strikes,
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  it not only impacts our own family but often entire neighborhoods or communities in the face of disaster.
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  A disaster preparedness and response program presented by Family and Consumer Sciences Extension at the University of Kentucky seeks to give families the resources they need to prepare for a natural disaster before it occurs and rebound in the aftermath.
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  My guest today is Doctor Paul Norred Extension Specialist for rural health and farm safety,
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  rock and Paul.
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  Hey,
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  Mindy.
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  Thank you for having me.
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  I am so glad that you're here today because we're going to talk about a really important topic that I think so many people experience,
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  but perhaps don't grasp exactly what's happening to them.
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  And we're going to talk about understanding trauma.
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  Paul,
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  let's kick this off with a definition of trauma.
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  What is trauma?
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  Yeah,
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  that's a great question.
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  Mindy.
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  And so trauma is essentially our body's response when we experience uh an event circumstance or situation that is either physically,
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  life threatening to us that we perceive as physically,
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  life threatening or that is emotionally hurtful.
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  And so,
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  you know,
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  an example of that might be experiencing a natural disaster as many uh Kentuckians have recently experienced in the last year.
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  And uh that,
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  that experience essentially impacts our uh um body,
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  brain and uh the entirety of our nervous system.
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  So when the event occurs,
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  I'm guessing that our body kind of deals with it.
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  It's like we have to,
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  we have to deal with it in the moment.
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  But then as time goes on,
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  we might feel those effects of the trauma.
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  Yeah,
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  that's a good way.
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  And so,
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  you know,
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  we can,
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  we can think of trauma or that event and that traumatic event as like the uh maximum amount of stress that our body could handle,
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  but it just tips the scales.
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  It's really,
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  it puts us beyond what we can cope with in a lot of cases.
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  And so it activates what we call our survival system because we're designed to survive and it releases all those hormones that are in our bodies,
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  to help keep us alive and to help us uh survive you know,
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  any type of event,
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  both physically and mentally and emotionally.
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  But the problem with that,
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  when we experience that traumatic event,
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  when our survival system is active,
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  that event,
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  that emotion from the event gets hard coded in the central portion of our brain that's responsible for the emotion.
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  And that place is called the Amygdala.
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  And so that gets hard coded in there as you say.
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  And so that emotion and rest of the event is essentially remembered by the brain in,
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  in this unconscious fashion.
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  And then,
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  uh you know,
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  after people recover or even they may not recover,
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  but they may just tend to forget specifics about the event and then that can come back up years down the road.
• 3:51
  Ok.
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  So even if we think that we have dealt with the traumatic event,
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  we might feel those effects far into the future.
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  Yeah.
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  And so,
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  absolutely.
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  And we generally feel those effects before we think about it.
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  And so what we talk about when people experience trauma and when we don't work through that traumatic experience and those painful emotions that many of us try to avoid because we don't like painful emotions,
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  then it can become what we can call,
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  conceive of as like a land mine,
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  an emotional land mine.
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  And so then,
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  um going to natural disasters and talking about the tornadoes,
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  you know,
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  I,
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  I've gone through three tornadoes,
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  uh two as a kid and one as an adult.
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  Any time there's a severe storm,
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  I'll just find myself laying there listening for the tornado sirens to go out.
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  My body's on edge.
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  Essentially,
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  I'm,
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  I'm feeling worked up or anxious or stressed,
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  but I'm not cognizant of those events that occurred when I was a kid,
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  right?
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  Um,
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  others may have fear.
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  You know,
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  there may be a certain event like,
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  uh,
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  being in a certain social situation where a traumatic event occurred,
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  you're just not aware that those things are triggering that emotion,
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  but that emotion is still in the body.
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  And it's essentially that traumatic event and emotion is a reservoir for stress.
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  And so we experience the stress of the event,
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  but we may not actually remember the event or make connections between the trigger and the event that we experienced.
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  I'm trying to think of an analogy that goes along with this and what's popping in my brain is when Molly and I my mo my dog and I go for a walk.
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  We see lots of cats along the way.
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  Some of those cats pay no attention to us,
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  but some cats arch their backs up and get all excited when they see Molly.
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  Not because she's done anything to them,
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  but probably because they've had some experience with a dog that was uncomfortable.
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  And so they associate Molly because she's a dog with uncomfortable experiences.
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  And so that's how our bodies kind of react,
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  even though it might not be the same experience we're responding to the trigger that,
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  that gives us that emotion.
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  Right.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah,
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  that's essentially a good way.
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  I like your analogy.
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  I think of one for my son.
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  And so for my example,
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  my son had had some complications after a surgery and was dehydrated and had frequent trips to the hospital which required multiple,
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  multiple I V sticks which,
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  and,
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  and those are difficult in a child already,
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  but then you add dehydration on top of it's difficult to get that needle in the vein and get the flus going.
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  And so for him now,
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  you know,
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  he remembers the I V sticks,
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  he remembers that stress.
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  His body is very familiar with that emotion and that pain.
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  But now if we talk about going to the doctor,
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  his memory and his body gets stressed even when we talk about going to the doctor and he's not getting I V stuck in his arms or anything.
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  But that memory is stored of being around doctors and nurses for him.
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  And it's stressful for him to go think about going to the doctor because it's associated with that traumatic event of getting stuck multiple times.
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  And so,
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  you know,
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  that's what we have.
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  Somebody who goes through a severe motor vehicle accident.
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  Mindy may have fear of driving or may be in a certain area that uh was near the near where they had their accident and they get upset,
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  they feel anxious or stressed,
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  they're not in a motor vehicle accident,
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  but their body,
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  their,
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  their brain is assimilating those same circumstances and associating it with that traumatic event and kicking on that survival system because again,
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  that's permanently stored in the brain.
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  And that is our body's way of helping us survive.
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  That's their survival system,
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  right?
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  It is,
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  it is,
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  it's,
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  it's not wrong.
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  Our,
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  our body is doing what it is designed to do.
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  It's responsible funding the way it needs to respond.
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  But when we think of 5 to 10 years after the event and we're still having that response,
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  it just indicates that we need to reach out for support,
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  that we may need to seek professional services to deal with the event.
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  So that we,
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  you know,
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  we don't feel as stressed when we're going through certain experiences.
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  And when we're speller,
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  essentially,
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  when we're experiencing those painful emotions,
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  it's an indicator that there's some work to be done.
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  It's important to note that not all traumatic events are these big picture things like natural disasters or car accidents.
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  They might be something very small,
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  right?
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  That could cause trauma to us.
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  That's correct.
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  And so the death of a spouse,
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  death of a parent that can cause trauma,
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  then the other side of that.
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  And I'm so glad you brought that up the other side of that.
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  Not everyone who goes through a potentially traumatic event experiences trauma.
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  It's just,
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  it,
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  it just,
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  it differs by who we are.
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  And so,
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  you know,
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  not everyone who experiences a natural disaster will experience trauma,
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  not everyone who experiences a car accident will experience trauma.
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  It varies from person to person,
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  but that person's experience your experience,
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  my experience,
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  the listener's experience,
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  if,
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  if that activates our survival system and,
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  and we feel like that was a traumatic event,
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  then that emotion and those memories are real for us.
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  And we just don't need to discount those in our com in our friends,
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  family and community members.
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  And so it can be small things,
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  large things that induce trauma and uh we don't need to discount those emotions and feelings.
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  We need to actually support and help each other.
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  So when someone needs support and needs to reach out and get assistance in dealing with their trauma,
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  where can they go?
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  Good question,
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  Mindy.
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  We recently developed a four part handout on trauma that talks about understanding,
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  recognizing coping and helping others.
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  And so listeners can reach out to their county extension agents and uh get these resources and uh talk with their extension agents.
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  And,
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  and if they feel like they need to talk to someone who's a professional,
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  they can also call or text the 988 number,
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  which is at the bottom of the resources.
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  But again,
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  you can call or text 988 to reach out to a professional for help as well.
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  And I always encourage someone,
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  talk to a family member,
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  talk to your pastor at church,
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  talk to someone you trust too that supports important as well.
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  And those resources that you mentioned,
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  we will link in the show notes so that they'll be easily accessible by our listeners.
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  And then I agree,
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  find those,
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  those support people who are close to you and,
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  and will give you that,
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  that shoulder to lean on that we often need.
• 11:03
  We can certainly encourage our listeners to learn more when faced with disaster by downloading the Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences extension service publication series in the face of Disa,
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  which covers many ways to prepare for an emergency and ways to recover if affected by one.
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  Topics include finances,
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  food and water considerations,
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  ways to protect your family and home and how to take care of your mental health after a traumatic event.
• 11:31
  Paul,
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  thanks so much for joining me for this conversation.
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  I know that it is gonna be important for our listeners and important for the health of Kentucky.
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  Thank you for having me today,
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  Mandy.
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  I appreciate it.
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