SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Northern California communities have seen numerous instances of both wildfires and power shutoffs in recent weeks, and the repeated traumas can have an effect on one's mental and physical health.
Dr. Eunie Jung is a clinical psychologist who specializes in the treatment of anxiety disorders, PTSD and depression. She weighed in on what's been going on.
"If it was one year where there are a lot of fires or lots of unexpected natural events or power outages, that would be one thing," Jung told ABC10. "But I think as it keeps going, people's anxiety levels can kind of rise and stay heightened. And that can kind of take a toll on people's mental health, their physical health. It becomes what they call a chronic stressor which has much poorer health outcomes."
Jung said the effects can sometimes be hard to spot, but there are some telltale signs.
"It depends on the person, but a normal reaction is fear, anxiety, uncertainty," explained Jung. "You know it's scary not to have your power, not to know if your house is going to be there from one day to the next. So, I think a wide range of reactions is, can be considered normal."
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"Noticing if you're doing things a little out of the ordinary, like maybe you're avoiding people more, avoiding certain places or situations, kind of shutting down some," said Jung. "Those might be signs you're not dealing with the stress as effectively. And those kinds of signs are the ones you want to pay a little more attention to."
Jung said it's important to address the anxiety and stressors head-on.
"Avoidance of stress or even instances of PTSD, avoidance is actually what prolongs that anxiety reaction," explained Jung. "So ultimately not to avoid the stress, not to avoid your uncomfortable feelings, that's the best route to go."
There are some things people can do to reclaim some of the power.
"I think developing any sense of control you can around an uncontrollable situation, whether that's getting your emergency kit together, whether that's making sure your advanced directive in your will in place, communicating with your family members regularly during high danger times, any sense of control around what you can do is really helpful."
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