The Post-Disaster Mental Health Check-Up

Our home remodeling project is finally coming to an end, after six long months.  During that time, we lived in about a 500 square foot space, four of us slept in the same room for four months, we were displaced from our kitchen, shared one bathroom, and lived on fast food for days at a time.  Kind of sounds like hurricane refugees, doesn’t it?

Mental health?? What mental health??

Now that our furniture is mostly back in place and the bits and pieces of our lives are settling down, I realized today just how stressful this event has been for me.  Ours was a man-made (Paranoid Dad-made) disaster, but living through a natural disaster or other highly stressful incident will trigger similar symptoms.  If you should find yourself facing an event like this, or dealing with it afterwards, the American Red Cross offers this check-list to evaluate your stress level, aka mental health.

1. Are you feeling physically and mentally drained?
2. Are you having difficulty making decisions or staying focused on topics?
3. Do you find yourself becoming frustrated more quickly and more often?
4. Are your relationships more tense?  Do you argue more with your friends and family?
5. Do you feel more tired, sad, numb, lonely or worried than usual?
6. Have your sleep patterns and/or appetite changed?

If, like me, you’re experiencing some of these symptoms, you don’t necessarily have to have lived through a Katrina or 9/11 disaster.  A job loss, death of a close friend or family member, or sometimes just “life” will set these things in motion.

The most reassuring thing to me about this check-list, is that all of these symptoms are usually short-lived.  Once the aftermath of a disaster ends and a sense of normalcy resumes, our emotional and mental health are usually restored.  You can read tips on how to recover more quickly in this great Red Cross publication.

Remember, if you’re feeling these things, so are your children.  Watch for my blog post tomorrow for tips to support and encourage your kids in tough times.

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