Unresolved problems can lead to chronic problems

Unresolved problems can lead to chronic problems

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Stating that trauma and stress disorder that occurs after sudden and unexpected events and situations such as earthquakes will affect the quality of life of the person, experts point out the importance of professional support.

Stating that a specialist should be consulted if the individual has symptoms such as insomnia, anger, intolerance, distraction, experts point out that unresolved problems may lead to chronic problems in the future.

Selvinaz Çınar Parlak, Specialist Psychologist at Üsküdar University NP Feneryolu Medical Center, pointed out the importance of early intervention in post-earthquake trauma and stress disorder.

Unexpected events can lead to trauma

Selvinaz Çınar Parlak stated that mental trauma occurs as a result of exposure to events that disrupt the natural flow of life and have devastating consequences that threaten the mental and physical integrity of the person and said, "Usually these events occur unexpectedly, suddenly and threaten the integrity of the person's life. When we look at the events that cause mental trauma, we can count situations such as death and accidents that occur suddenly and unexpectedly, such as natural disasters. Sometimes, wars, injuries, sexual traumas and sexual abuses caused by human hands can also cause mental trauma in people."

Different reactions may occur in everyone

Noting that these events cause a very intense feeling of terror, helplessness and fear in the person, Selvinaz Çınar Parlak stated that different reactions may occur in everyone and said "It can cause intense stress reactions in people after the event. But sometimes, even though people experience the same events, the same traumatic effect may not be observed in everyone. Some people can overcome such shocking and destructive events in a resilient way. We can see that some people are much more exposed to what we call the trauma effect, they are very affected and traumatized by the events. Especially when we look at social events after natural disasters, we observe that some people are psychologically resilient and can help other people while trying to help other people immediately after natural disasters and maintaining their role as leaders, while some people are intensely traumatized."

Past history of the person is important

Stating that it is mostly the past history of the person that creates the trauma effect, Parlak said, "If the individual has a solid self-construction, has psychological resilience, is mentally healthy, the person can manage such traumatic events and stress. However, if there are already some mental problems from the past and accompanying psychiatric diseases, if they are psychologically unstable, people can also fall apart mentally with these traumatic events. Therefore, not every event may have the same level of traumatic impact on everyone. But if there is a trauma in the past, if there are other accompanying problems, people can be traumatized quickly."

Reliving or avoiding can be seen

Selvinaz Çınar Parlak stated that similar stress reactions are seen in people after such shocking events called traumatic effects and said, "These reactions are a state of hyperarousal, high anxiety level and difficulties in concentrating." Stating that there are two main features of the trauma effect, Selvinaz Çınar Parlak said, "One of them is what we call reliving, that is, while the person continues his life, it is as if he is reliving that traumatic event over and over again, it comes to his mind again with flashbacks. It enters their dreams as nightmares. In addition to this feature, another feature that we typically observe is what we call avoidance. The person starts to avoid things that they think are related to the trauma. They try to avoid places, objects, people, anything that will remind them of that event. Sometimes they don't want to talk about it at all. Sometimes they may not even remember the event. These are one of the important stress reactions we see after reliving and avoiding trauma."

The person thinks that he/she can overcome it on his/her own

Selvinaz Çınar Parlak warned that "If such stress reactions are seen in a person after being exposed to a traumatic event, he/she should primarily seek psychological support" and said, "But we observe that people apply to this less frequently. It is as if stress reactions after such events are things that should already happen. Therefore, they think that there is no need to get help and support and wait for it to pass. But in fact, after any kind of stress reaction, it is necessary to get psychological support in order to overcome this event and to maintain our psychological stability again. Therefore, people exposed to trauma or their relatives should definitely seek psychological support quickly if they have stress reactions."

Chronic stress affects quality of life

Selvinaz Çınar Parlak stated that the stress effects after trauma can sometimes last for a short period of time, sometimes they can pass within a few months, and these are called acute stress reactions, and said, "Sometimes these problems can become very chronic and continue throughout life. When they become chronic and continue for a lifetime, together with avoidance and some other trauma-specific symptoms, they can significantly reduce the quality of life and life satisfaction of the person. For this reason, it is a situation that needs to be treated and support should be received."

Medication and psychotherapies are applied

Noting that antidepressant drugs are generally used in post-traumatic stress disorder, Selvinaz Çınar Parlak stated that various psychotherapy methods are also applied in the treatment and said "If there are other accompanying psychiatric disorders, psychiatry specialists evaluate and apply drug treatments accordingly. Psychotherapy methods are also techniques that eliminate post-traumatic stress reactions and help the person overcome the trauma. These are generally speech therapies. The most important of these is the trauma-specific Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Technique called EMDR. This therapy method is a therapy method that works very well in trauma, finds a solution in a very short time and removes the trauma effect. In addition to EMDR, cognitive behavioral therapies, supportive psychotherapies and some other psychotherapeutic modalities can help to relieve post-traumatic stress disorder reactions. These therapy methods give good results and enable people to successfully overcome this situation and difficulty."

Consult a specialist when traumatic effects are observed

Recommending that the person who encounters a traumatic effect should benefit from these methods, knowing that they will resolve it in a short time, Parlak said, "These methods are used much more widely in our country, especially after the good results of acute interventions by psychologists in post-traumatic stress disorder have been seen. Both the Turkish Psychological Association and EMDR Turkey Association are organizations that collectively provide rapid interventions in such social traumas. If you can try to get support from such organizations quickly when you observe traumatic effects. These services can be accessed in many parts of Turkey."

Pay attention to insomnia, anger and intolerance

Stating that the pandemic period, which emerged unexpectedly and suddenly, as well as what happened after the Izmir earthquake, can have traumatic effects on society and individuals, Selvinaz Çınar Parlak said, "These events were of a nature to disrupt the natural flow of life and the integrity of life. It disrupted the normal life cycle, and especially those who were directly exposed to the disease and those who died and lost their relatives could not mourn in a natural way. They could not attend their relatives' funerals. They could not say goodbye to them. Therefore, these are difficult experiences that can have a traumatizing effect. Instead of waiting for this to pass as a natural process, it is necessary to get help with the stress and difficulty experienced here. We are going through a difficult and stressful period. We are going through a period that may have traumatic effects for some people. Therefore, it is necessary to get psychotherapy support during this period. Especially if the person has symptoms such as insomnia, anger, intolerance, distraction, they will need medication support. Let's definitely try to get support from a mental health specialist and psychologists. Unresolved problems can lead to chronic problems in later life. Especially avoidance. Better results will be achieved with quick interventions. For this reason, I recommend everyone to get psychological support in this process we are going through."

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Updated At05 March 2024
Created At13 November 2020
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