The KC Chiefs rally shooting was trauma for a million people. It’s OK not to be OK | Opinion
It has been two weeks since the shooting at the Chiefs Super Bowl celebration rally rocked our Kansas City community. The emotions that come with a tragic, frightening event can be overwhelming and sometimes debilitating.
As a counselor and an academic, I can see the traumatic stress reactions common to this human experience move through my students, clients, friends and members of the community.
The effects of a traumatic experience can be different for every person who experienced it. But it is vitally important that we understand the possibilities so we are able to recognize what might be happening in us or in the people around us. Here it is in a nutshell:
After enduring trauma, some people look as if they’re doing all right. Sometimes that’s because they are, but sometimes because they react by becoming numb to the overwhelmingness of the experience, and somewhat habitually move through the days after. Their emotional and cognitive symptoms may show up later. Some people don’t do well immediately after the event because the fear, anger and sadness are unbearable and they can’t regulate their body or emotions.
None of these reactions have to do with how smart or strong someone is. The strongest people can fall apart, and that’s fine. After a traumatic experience, it’s OK to not be OK.
For those who have symptoms right after the event, we call that acute stress. For some people, it will improve over time — and for some it won’t. After a few weeks, if symptoms continue, post-traumatic stress disorder might develop.
Some people who seemed to be doing well right after the event might not begin to develop traumatic stress symptoms for weeks or even months afterward. This is just what our brain does sometimes to protect us, and it can be difficult to predict how each of us processes the harm and how it might manifest.
The symptoms that you look for are ones that affect your thoughts, your feelings and the sensations you have in your body.
One set of symptoms are intrusive thoughts. Do you have memories or thoughts from that day that continue to recur? Are there nightmares about that event, or even prior traumatic events that were triggered?
Another symptom can affect changes in mood or thoughts. Are you more irritable? Are you more tearful? Do you find it more difficult to concentrate? Are you hypervigilant and looking for danger around you?
There can also be avoidance. Do you not want to go to the downtown area? Do you not want to talk about football because it brings up the shooting in your mind? Do you want to sleep more than usual? Are you using alcohol or drugs more than is typical?
What do you do if you see these symptoms in yourself? Be honest about what is happening with you. If you have a counselor, talk to them about it, and if you don’t have one, find a counselor who is trained to work with trauma. If you have employee assistance program benefits at work, use them. They often provide free sessions.
Stay close and connected to the people you love and who love you. We are social beings and our healthy, safe connections are often the best thing to help us regulate. Try to get good sleep. Trauma disrupts the regulation of systems in our bodies, and we absolutely need to rest.
Get up and move. Rhythmic movements, especially ones that cross the midline of the body, help our brain to process and integrate information.
It is important to get back to our routines, but when we do we can’t ignore that we individually and collectively experienced something traumatic and tragic. Make the effort to check in on the people close to you.
The harm from traumatic experiences won’t be forgotten, but it can be healed.
Gina Staves is a licensed professional counselor in Kansas City with a Ph.D. in psychology. She teaches in the Psychology department at Avila University in Kansas City.