Increasingly, survivors
of Hurricane Harvey are seeking mental-health assistance as they try to rebuild.
“A lot of my work is helping people prioritize and focus on what they can control versus what they can’t.”
Eberhart headed to Austin before the storm hit. She later received photos of the flooding at her house from a neighbor. When she returned home, she was heartbroken by what she found: “Mud and slush, and everything just gone.”
She lived with her son and his roommates in Houston for about three weeks, then she moved into a starkly furnished apartment near her home. The stress increased amid the frustrations of being displaced, remodeling work and the grief from losing irreplaceable items such as furniture that belonged to her mother and childhood photographs.
“I think after a while you just have to accept the fact that maybe you’re just stuck in a place, and somebody can just get you over the hump and it would be a therapist,” Eberhart said.
She had her first counseling session in November with Judith Andrews, a psychologist who co-chairs the Texas Psychological Association’s disaster resource network. Eberhart, who was able to return to her house in December, said talking to Andrews helped her realize she should not be mad at herself for still being upset and that she needed to takes steps to deal with the stress, such as starting to exercise again.
Andrews, whose organization is offering free counseling sessions, said survivors feel grief over the loss of property and stability. “They’re grieving about the loss of what was,” she said.
They usually first experience the survival-focused “heroic phase,” when people are responding with high intensity, helping others to survive or being rescued, Andrews said. A few weeks later comes the “honeymoon” phase, which can last up to six months as people are buoyed by feelings of solidarity and bonding from their shared experience.
But anger, resentment and feelings of isolation and abandonment can creep in during the “disillusionment” phase, when survivors struggle to rebuild. The “reconstruction” phase follows — and can last for years — as victims learn to accept that everything won’t be the same.
“What happens when people don’t process it by talking, then they really don’t get rid of it,” Andrews said.