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“Against all that force and animus, the person has no defense other than to make himself small, to draw a curtain over his sensory organs, to take his inner self out of the field of combat so that there is less of him to be wounded and less of him to be implicated in the insanity of what is happening.”
These reactions are very real and Katrina victims require that the country understand that for at least a short while their experiences will make it hard from them to lead their lives normally. Just as important, however, is to understand that most people who suffer from traumatic events recover fully, particularly if their material concerns—housing, food, and employment—are swiftly secured. Only a few are left with lingering psychological complaints requiring psychiatric medical attention. In fact, it may be absurd and difficult to believe, but many people who have lived through horror, including former prisoners-of-war and victims of fire, look back on these experiences as having led them towards a focus on their core values.
At the time of this writing it is still an open question how the people who are coming out of the Superdome and the Convention Center will be regarded in the places where they seek safety. Already, the New York Times reported that local unease over the presence of 1,000 New Orleans refugees in a Louisiana town led Mayor Charles Caillouet to issue a statement declaring that “rumors claiming looting, robberies, carjacking, takeover of shelter[s], lockdown of the city, delays in providing or the shutdown of electrical service, and any crimes of violence are absolutely false.”
To a large extent this hysteria results from the recognition that some refugees are indeed violent criminals. Racism, of course, plays a large role as well. But there is also a way in which the popular understanding of traumatic illness causes these fears. To say that a person who has suffered horrific experiences is traumatized is sometimes understood to mean that this person has been “brutalized.” This is the manner of thinking that promotes the “cycle of violence” school of traumatology according to which people who have experienced violence go on to perpetrate violence. The evidence for this theory is questionable, and it is even less likely that this model applies to a situation like the flooding of New Orleans where the traumatic experiences were relatively brief.
If we’re going to talk about the psychological impact of Katrina’s destruction, we need to discuss trauma as a normal response to chaotic and horrific conditions, not as a dangerous phenomenon that turns victims themselves into chaotic, violent brutes. Our national discomfort with the tragedies in New Orleans can’t extend to a discomfort with the hurricane’s battered victims.
If they are going to emerge from their shock, and most will, they need to be in places that are safe, and that is not possible without trust.
Tom Cannell is a former Editor-in-Chief of PH.