Earthquakes, other natural disasters and unexpected events can cause trauma. According to experts, men generally tend to ignore the traumas they experience due to generally accepted gender roles in society. Stating that male individuals take care to appear stronger and keep a cooler head, experts said that this situation causes the person to suppress the trauma experienced.
Specialist Clinical Psychologist Solin Çekin said that trauma is defined as "a set of events that threatens death or results in a death, develops unexpectedly-suddenly and poses a threat to physical, social, spiritual and vital integrity". Çekin said, "Although women seem to be more likely to apply for support after a traumatic life, it is thought that men go through a more hidden traumatic process."
How Does Trauma Affect Coping Mechanisms?
Stating that trauma negatively affects the individual's adaptive coping mechanisms, Specialist Clinical Psychologist Solin Çekin said that although there are all sub-fields of violence, especially sexual violence, physical injury or death, directly or indirectly, such as witnessing another person's experience, learning that it happened to a relative, is called traumatic experience in the field of psychiatry.
Stating that traumas can cause different reactions, Specialist Clinical Psychologist Solin Çekin said, "Some of the main reasons for these negative effects are that traumatic experiences, which affect the person's mental coping mechanisms extremely negatively, are untimely and can lead to the point of death. Traumas that cause such devastating consequences cause anxiety, withdrawal, fear and avoidance reactions. Most perceptions of trauma are that trauma causes more physical wounds. However, while traumas vary according to the person, there are points where they differ from time to time according to gender."
Stating that natural disasters have been the basis of fears since the day mankind existed, Specialist Clinical Psychologist Solin Çekin said, "Its sudden and unpredictable nature can have great effects on people. Some individuals who are exposed to this kind of natural disaster may have some emotional problems even if there is no physical injury. Since our country is an earthquake zone, various reactions emerge in people after major earthquakes. Of course, these various reactions vary from person to person. In fact, the reactions that develop are completely normal and knowing what these reactions are helps us to get rid of the psychological effects of the event more quickly."
Pointing out that although the earthquake itself seems to be a problem most of the time, in fact, the uncertainty in its content creates fear in the individual, Specialist Clinical Psychologist Solin Çekin said, "In disasters that cause severe consequences such as earthquakes, while individuals who take the process in its normal course get used to the new situation within a few weeks and continue their daily lives; For some people, the prolongation of this process can lead to Acute Stress Disorder or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Stating that in such cases, men generally tend to ignore the traumas they have experienced due to the generally accepted gender roles in society, Specialist Clinical Psychologist Solin Çekin said, "While there is a trust area between mother and child like a roof, the father figure aims to create a trust area that covers them all. This continues in this way both in terms of gender roles and human nature. Therefore, male individuals take care to appear stronger and keep their cooler heads. This situation causes the person to suppress the trauma they have experienced. Although women seem to have more support applications after a traumatic life, it is thought that men go through a more hidden traumatic process."
Specialist Clinical Psychologist Solin Çekin said that it is of great importance for individuals who are traumatized as a result of the earthquake, especially for individuals who witness destruction, debris, loss of life or not receiving news from their relatives in the first place, to create a safe space in the first place and to enable them to communicate with their relatives.
How to Overcome Earthquake/Natural Disaster Trauma?
Specialist Clinical Psychologist Solin Çekin emphasized that it is wrong to create a perception that people are being given therapy at the beginning, "Because first of all, we need to ensure that these people feel safe and can meet their basic needs. It is more meaningful to share feelings of unity and solidarity with earthquake victims."
Stating that this issue remains valid in traumatic experiences other than earthquakes, Specialist Clinical Psychologist Solin Çekin said, "In other words, the priority is to create a safe space for the patient. Afterwards, it is necessary to plan meetings over the therapeutic relationship to understand their feelings. Trauma therapies should never be thought of as erasing bad experiences from memory or making them forget. In trauma-focused therapies, support is provided for emotional processing, so that the person has a more conscious approach to reality. If, despite all therapeutic processes, the traumatic life significantly impairs the person's functionality, a referral to a psychiatrist should be made."