"If
you are a victim of Hurricane Katrina, register with this site to let
the world know how to contact you. You can give as much detail as you'd
like. Then anyone visiting refugeesunited.org can quickly find out how
you are doing.
If you are looking for a victim in the Gulf Coast
region, you can search for your loved one's name and location. In the
very near future, you will be able to post your questions to this site
so that your query will be visible to anyone visiting
refugeesunited.org.
This site is designed to be a central
collection point for information on anyone impacted by Hurricane
Katrina. Tell everyone about refugeesunited.org. We're here to help."
If you have a blog, please
post this info and the link to the site. Help get the word out so these
folks can find their friends and families. No central record-keeping of
names has yet been created, and currently many people are scattered all
over the country, some unable to remember their own names, who have
been separated from the people who care for them. Spread the word.
The emotional symptoms of stress include, but are by no means
limited to, moodiness, irritability, and anger. Physical symptoms can
include headaches, nausea, insomnia, and all manner of physical pain.
(Here's a link to a detailed list of symptoms, just in case.)
If any of this sounds familiar, congratulations, you have been
keeping well informed on current events. There is enough grief in the
atmosphere to suffocate anybody. There are a lot of other, equally
intolerable emotions, but if you're still reading this I don't need to
catalogue them for you.
May I suggest that everybody here who is not physically in the
front lines stop for a moment and take inventory: are stress effects
starting to have a constant, or even just a distracting, effect on you,
or somebody near you?
I don't mean "are you depressed," or frustrated, or angry. It
would be a much bigger warning sign if we weren't. I mean, is the
depression coloring everything you see, whether it's related to these
events or not? Is the frustration keeping you from things that would
normally define you work, pleasure, ordinary conversation? Are you constantly angry, and is the anger spilling out onto people who did nothing but be in range?
If this is happening, then I would quietly ask you to take a
step back. Turn off the television, shut down the computer. They, and
the crises, will still be there. Go do something else, now.
--Find a distraction and allow it to distract you.Pick up
some unfinished work. Go for a walk and pay attention to every detail,
even the ones that remind you of Topic A; this is about coping, not
pretending it's not there.
--Read, watch a movie, put on some music. It doesn't have to be 'happy.' This is what catharsis is all about, and why there's been a word for it for so long.
--Talk to someone about something else that matters to both of
you. Or, perhaps better, talk to someone you care about who's also
stressed " I doubt you'll have much trouble finding someone " about how
you both feel. Talk each other down. If you need to hug or cry, let it
roll. In this hour, the trolls of damned-lie stoicism have no claim on
your soul.
I am not asking anyone to stop assisting with relief efforts of any kind. Was that understood? Good.
All this assumes that you or yours are dealing with the effects
of "ordinary" stress. If something more serious is going on " deep,
unrelievable grief or depression " find counseling, sooner, not later.
Unfortunately, stress doesn't end with the event. The present
crises have already created a great number of people with
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and there will be more, not all of them
direct victims. (One powerful reason for taking time out now is to
avoid being in this group.) Most of you will be aware of PTSD; dealing
with it is beyond my scope here. Here is
one source, with specific observations on the Here and the Now. (Yes,
it's from a Federal agency. If that bothers you, there are many other
sources.)
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. To live in one of those times need not mean turning one's back on the other.
