Acute Stress and PTSD: The Boy Scout Camping Tragedy

Being the mother of a cub scout myself, I was hit hard by the recent story of a group of camping Boy Scouts being struck by a tornado. Apparently, the 8-second tornado injured 48 scouts and staff members and killed 4. (Read more about the story here.)

When faced with traumatic events like this one, many people will experience serious negative effects from the extreme stress. Most of those who survived the trauma (as well as countless numbers of us who are just hearing about it) will have a renewed sense of gratitude just for being alive. However, the extreme stress of the experience, as with all traumatically stressful situations, may affect the survivors in varying degrees.

Some survivors may just be 'shaken up' and will be relatively recovered within a few days. Others may experience Acute Stress Disorder (a shorter-lived version of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), while some may develop full-blown PTSD. Different individual and situational factors contribute to the development of these stress responses, so one person may face relatively few long-term effects while another person may be plagued with nightmares, flashbacks and other PTSD symptoms for quite a while. About.com's PTSD site has some excellent resources for those who have faced traumatic stress, and their loved ones.

In situations where large groups of people have shared the same traumatic stressor, like this one, people are often encouraged to get counseling immediately, to discuss and process their emotional reactions to the events. While this can be very helpful for some people, it's important to know that talking about emotions too soon, especially for those who don't have a desire to do so, may actually be less helpful, or even lead to poorer outcomes in the long term. Counselors and therapists have traditionally held the view that it's vitally important to debrief immediately; however, new research questions those assumptions. (Here's some more information on that research, from About.com's Psychology Site.)

So what can you do to cope with a traumatic stressor in a healthy way? Be patient with yourself and seek support if you need it. Here are some more specific tips on coping with crisis, and ways that you can help a friend who is facing difficult times.