[Purdy Bear]

One thing is certain when the SHTF that people will be effected emotionally, psychologically and physically. My concern is how people are going to cope with the first two.

In the present time, we can go for counselling, have medicines from the Drs (Prozac etc), and even psychiatric care if need be, but that will all be removed after the SHTF, so how are you going to cope with the PTSD etc.

I think suicides may well be high, but not immediately as alcohol and drugs may last a while but once they are gone its going to be on the up. I think places like Japan where it is honourable to commit suicide if you feel your life is burden on your family its going to be a top cause of deaths.

Is therapy an area of preps for careers that isnt covered much in the preppers world, most going for physical medicine and other such preps?

 

[MotherEarth]

Purdy Bear,
In all honesty Faith is my therapy, and the only therapy I could offer any one in that bad of a situation.
If people have hope and faith that things will get better, they have a purpose, and they can get through this - encouragement will become priceless.

I remember reading the book "Swan Song" and in it the man had a radio in his cabin where he had a small group of other survivors. Every day at a certain time, one person got to turn the dials through the AM channel to see if they heard a voice.
Only 1 time a day, 1 time of switching through.
It was enough to give them hope that 'maybe tomorrow' someone would be broadcasting.

I think hope and faith is seriously underestimated when the world as we know it is spinning fine. When the world stops spinning, it may be the only thing we have left.

 

[lilangel]

Mother Earth, I couldn't agree with you more.

I read somewhere, can't for the life of me remember where , that when a person is faced with a traumatic situation a good coping mechanism is routine. Basically the article was saying that when you have specific jobs to do, schedules to maintain, etc., that it makes it easier to cope with traumatic changes. For example think of the movie 'I am Legend' - the main character keeps a strict routine, he goes to the video store every day for 1 movie, he doesn't go once and take them all home. It is the routine that helps you keep your sanity.

Just like what Mother Earth said about the group of people, each getting a turn at the radio, keeping the hope alive. Think of your life now and all the routines that you have. I think that it would help emotionally, physically and psychologically to keep as many routines as possible. Schedule goals that need to be met daily. I know that OPSEC may be an issue that doesn't mix well with routines but there are things you can do.

Including some inspirational books at your BOL might help emotionally as well.

 

[kev]

If you go back and read about the black death, there were people wondering around like they were in some kind of shock. They walked and walked with no idea of where they were going.

 

[LadyFenix]

If you go back and read about the black death, there were people wondering around like they were in some kind of shock. They walked and walked with no idea of where they were going.

********************

This was also true of the concentration camp survivors in Germany at the end of WW II. When the camps were liberated, the traumatized skeletal survivors just didn't know where to go or what to do. Their homes and everything they knew had been swept away by the horrors of war. Family members killed in the camps. So, they just started walking.

 

[Moccasin]

Suicide, irrational behavior, anger and violence... But I think it would be depression that would be the big problem in TEOTWAWKI. People sinking into inertia as their world falls apart, and forcing others to either carry their weight, probably to the detriment of all, in the hopes they'll come out of it, or simply letting them perish...

 

[ShellbackBill]

If you go back and read about the black death, there were people wondering around like they were in some kind of shock. They walked and walked with no idea of where they were going.

And those are your real life zombies. If it gets bad enough I'm sure we will have them here.

 

[Ramona M. Faunce]

Since before the crash in '08 the suicide rate has increased year after year. The use of medication for depression/stress has risen dramatically.

America is already being affected by the shtf.

In a future without medication to ease these symptoms, there is going to be frightening madness through out the world. There will be times when even the most hardened survivor will contemplate suicide.

Coming to the acceptance of what is happening in our world goes a long way to help stave off these first stirings of panic. But you will also have to have a pot of gold to draw strength from during extremely hard times. For me, like most, that is going to be God, family and community.

Keep a level head

God bless and keep on prepping.

 

[MikeK]

Trauma is hard enough to deal with during good times. A lot of folks are seriously going to crumble if faced with the major changes and stresses that many of us are preparing for.

A lot of it will probably depend on what actually happens and how fast. If we experience a slow downturn, people may be better equipped to adapt to the changing lifestyle. But if it's a desperate crash, I think ithere is going to be a lot of trauma. Especially if it's accompanied by mass death.

Another thing I can add is that when negative events begin happening back to back, each one is harder to deal with than if it had happened by itself. I recently experienced this on a smaller scale.

My life has always been relatively peaceful other than the typical downturns in life such as loss of friends and family members. But we're equipped to cope with things like that. I had within a matter of months experienced the loss of my business because of the economy, my mother dying and immediately being set upon by inspectors and licensing agencies for the assisted living facility she owned, followed by losing my own house and having to move into hers, and even my dogs dying.

What I discovered is that each of those events would have been stressful on their own, but when compounded into a one after the other stream of events, effected me harder than I could believe. I've lost dogs before and it's always sad. But they died at the end of this string of events and it just hit me so much harder than I would have thought possible.

My situation was nothing compared to what a serious crisis would be like. So I can't even imagine what the "compounding effect" and related stresses are going to be like. If this small string of events in my life turned out to be so hard to deal with, I think we're in for real problems in a crash. I can see PTSD and depression as becoming major issues for a lot of people.

 

[12vman]

I can see alot of folks being dropped when their meds run out and they start to tweek

W/ so many folks on various meds for anxiety,bipolar,depression etc it could get bad

 

[Misanthropy]

Good thing I can handle the depression I already have without meds. Im a loner so I dont have friends, not like im going to miss anyone when TSHTF.

Only thing im going to have trouble with is not being able to get Taco Bell every once in a while...

Bring it on!

 

[bighanded]

it is a very real thing...

I've exited my house after a major hurricane and assessed the damage and I know what the feels like emotionally...

but that wasn't even the same feeling as I had 9/11.

We lived in a mid sized city then and our subdivision was directly in the flight path of a major airport...traffic came roaring in/out every 45 to 90 seconds...shaking windows, you had to stop talking etc...but you get used to the noise...well...I clearly remember as I saw planes coming in as hard n fast as they could to get things grounded and then the silence...for the rest of the day there was no plane noise and it was startling.
We sat glued to the TV and I didn't sleep more than cat naps for the next 3 days. I kept asking myself what it was I had done to those terrorists or failed to do as a middle aged middle class white guy responsible for this country on my watch in my prime, that caused or allowed those people to attack us like that.

you better expect and plan for trauma...it's real

 

[12vman]

.

Only thing im going to have trouble with is not being able to get Taco Bell every once in a while...

Bring it on!

For me its going to be buffalo wings...a couple weeks w/o and somebody is getting hurt

 

[Pangea]

Weed is the answer, man. Weed.

 

[Purdy Bear]

Well there are natural anti-depressants such as St Johns Wort, which cannot be taken combined with normal medicines provided by your GP.

I guess one answer is to prepare for a deep depression.

I wonder if the sugar blues is going to be another major problem, with the majority being addicted to it - I know I was.

 

[ShaynaGirl]

I am glad to see this topic being discussed. This is something that I still struggle with on a regular basis.

This is not isolated to just Americans. I recall in 1991 being a college student that was preparing to go over to Israel as a volunteer to help during Desert Storm. My job was to be crisis counseling survivors after the anticipated SCUD missile attacks. (Unfortunately, I did not get to go, but that is another story for another time.)

I've seen the "shell shock" and experienced it first hand. Some people get very passive and act as if in a fog. Others may act out with rage and violence.

I don't have a solution to offer, other than to acknowledge this reality and prepare as best I can.

 

[seawind]

While past responses to high stress will give some indication no one really knows for sure how they will react if the SHTF. The book "On Killing" gives insight into how people respond to life and death situations (and how long they can fuction under such continual stress (about 2 weeks)). Preppers have a "leg up" in responding to the stress of the SHTF by thinking in realistic terms out what life would be like following the SHTF.

One thing to keep in mind is that for many it won't be the SHTF but the not knowing what is going on that will do them in. Communications will be really important ie. shortwave radios/HAM set ups.

 

[Misanthropy]

Weed is the answer, man. Weed.

Thats so pathetic

 

[ShaynaGirl]

Based on the research I have done on effects of THC on the body and mind, I would try this if it was legal in my area. Kentucky recently changed the laws to be much less strict, but I am such a "fraidy cat" that I would not dare try.

I honestly don't know why it is not legal and regulated / taxed, but that is a whole other topic, I'm sure.

I suspect that in a protracted disaster situation, this may become a very popular choice for self-medication.

Weed is the answer, man. Weed.

 

[Smudge]

Homebrew :