Vegas survivors have been through hell, and it’s not over
Now is about the time you’ve got Las Vegas fatigue. For the sake of your sanity, you turn your attention to other things, lighter things.
Now is about the time survivors of that attack are beginning to feel the shock subside and an onslaught of emotions — anguish, grief, guilt — take over.
“There’s national recognition and solidarity around these big events, (but) that sense of attention and care and compassion seems to fade with the next news cycle,” said Seth Gillihan, a psychologist and post-traumatic stress disorder researcher. “The country pretty quickly returns to its baseline.”
But survivors can’t return to their baseline. Those who escaped the bullets can go home, and the injured will leave the hospital, but they can’t go back to the lives they had.
“The world they knew before it happened is profoundly changed,” Gillihan said. “They’re probably going to have a different way of seeing the world, they may have a different way of seeing themselves, they may be critical of themselves for how they reacted during the event.”
Las Vegas survivors have been thrust onto a new trajectory, one that will feel worse before it gets better. They are joining an unfortunate fellowship of those who’ve endured trauma — but one that can at least provide guidance down this too-well-trodden path.
This is how it starts
“I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet,” said Megan O’Donnell Clements, a 33year-old mom who ran when Stephen Paddock’s gunfire rang out Sunday.
“I am just numb right now,” said Justin Zimmerman, who hit the ground.
If you’ve watched interviews with the Las Vegas survivors, you might be amazed by their poise, but those who have dealt with trauma personally or professionally say this is what the initial aftershock looks like: numbness.
People react this way because they’ve experienced “more than the nervous system can process at once,” Gillihan said.
This is how it heals
Regardless of whether a trauma survivor is diagnosed with PTSD, they may share a number of feelings and experiences after the fact.
Knowing this, Wolf said, is why his “heart breaks” for the Las Vegas survivors.
But even people with severe PTSD see dramatic improvement with treatment, Gillihan said. “No one has to suffer forever.” However, survivors should know there’s a “process to what’s unfolding.”
“How they’re feeling now won’t be how they always feel ... it will change over time. It’s not static the way we respond to these things,” Gillihan said.