10 days until it's been 5 years so local news is starting to ramp up the tornado stories.
This story I can relate to because I had PTSD symptoms and know of many people who had similar symptoms as well. The story describes the symptoms quite well......
For me, the sound of rolling thunder over the last 3-4 years has been rough as it would take me back to that day and I'd experience the symptoms listed, it was pretty much like a panic attack. Even adding a tornado shelter to the house didn't stop that fear. Even on days when I knew there wasn't a chance of a tornado, my brain would tell me that one would just drop out of the sky unnoticed if I heard rolling thunder. I never really had that fear before the Joplin tornado. Thunder (even distant) will wake me up from sleep now and I'll turn the TV on or check Radarscope to see if it's warned. Luckily those symptoms have really faded and I don't experience that fear as much. I'm not sure what changed, I guess it just took some time.
For other people, they still experience PTSD symptoms. Someone I know can't go to an automatic car wash because it reminds them of the sound of being inside the tornado. Someone else I know leaves the area completely on days when there are chances of tornadoes, driving hours and hours away from the area before the storms form.
This man, who was trapped under a wall in Home Depot and was injured, still struggles with chronic PTSD.
This is something that I think is severely overlooked when it comes to natural disasters. Whenever I hear about "Lucky" people who survive stuff like that, I just feel bad for them, and the fact that they have to go through the recovery process. I wouldn't be surprised if there are many PTSD sufferers who wind up wishing that the traumatic experience had taken their lives after all, because it sounds like absolute hell.
Devastating tornado strikes Joplin, Missouri
in Weather Forecasting and Discussion
Posted
This is something that I think is severely overlooked when it comes to natural disasters. Whenever I hear about "Lucky" people who survive stuff like that, I just feel bad for them, and the fact that they have to go through the recovery process. I wouldn't be surprised if there are many PTSD sufferers who wind up wishing that the traumatic experience had taken their lives after all, because it sounds like absolute hell.