美国国家公共电台 NPR After Hurricane Katrina, Many People Found New Strength

 

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Cleanup is well underway in Florida and Texas and other places hard hit by the recent hurricanes. But long after the debris¹ is cleared, there will still be mental health hurdles² for the survivors³, especially for those who are still out of their homes.

Psychologist Jean Rhodes of the University of Massachusetts Boston has spent the last decade studying what happens to people long after a natural disaster. In her case, she focused on Hurricane Katrina. And what's unusual about her study is that she also has data from before Katrina hit. Professor Rhodes joins us now. Welcome.

JEAN RHODES: Thank you.

CHANG: So in 2004, you and your colleagues launched this study of something actually quite different from what we're going to be talking about in a minute. Your study was originally about community college, graduation rates, right? And as part of this, you surveyed about a thousand people in New Orleans.

RHODES: That's correct. We were down there studying why some young women graduated and others didn't. So we were looking at single mothers, most of them mostly African-American, mostly living in the Lower Ninth Ward⁴ and other areas that were affected⁵ by Hurricane Katrina. And so we were looking at their health and their demographic characteristics and their psychological profiles and all sorts of things. And we were out in the field collecting a wave of data when Hurricane Katrina hit.

CHANG: And the community colleges in New Orleans shut down. So I understand you turned your work into a study of the long-term mental health impacts of the storm. Why did you choose to do that?

RHODES: Well, at first we were just really despairing that our entire study was basically washed to sea. And then the investigator⁶ with whom I've worked most closely on this, Mary Waters, called me. And she said, you know, I think we have an opportunity here because we have so much data on the young women before the storm hit, and that way we can control for how they were functioning prior to the disaster.

And so we decided⁷ to look not just at mental health but health outcomes, you know, basically immediately. And then we got another grant to study it five years after the disaster. And recently we have another grant. We're out in the field, and we're looking at survivors 10 to 15 years after a disaster.

CHANG: And I understand that one of the long-term consequences that you discovered through your study was this upside that comes with some of the trauma⁸ people suffered. Can you talk about that?

RHODES: That's correct. There's something called post-traumatic growth.

CHANG: Post-Traumatic growth - I've heard of post-traumatic stress.

RHODES: Right. Well, post-traumatic growth is sort of the flip⁹ side. For some group, particularly people who have been exposed to the highest levels of stress, a natural disaster and other trauma can be an awakening¹⁰. It's an ancient idea that, you know, we are actually strengthened by our adversity. And without being too Pollyannaish...

CHANG: Yeah.

RHODES: ...There are merits to it. There's this idea that sometimes when we are brought to the brink¹¹ of things, it strengthens us. We begin to appreciate life more and feel a sense of personal strength for having endured the trauma. We see new possibilities. We begin to value relationships over things and really have a spiritual awakening. Those kinds of existential things we see in about 75 percent of our sample.

CHANG: What a lovely consequence of such a terrible storm. You know, in the aftermath of Katrina, some of the people in your study got access to mental health care for the first time in their lives, and that turned out to be crucial for them. And since then, have you seen that there's been a greater push to get mental health services out to people faster after a natural disaster?

RHODES: Yes. I've seen a much broader, more integrated mental health response to the survivors of Harvey and Irma in ways that I think are going to have long-term consequences.

CHANG: Like what?

RHODES: One of the things we know about exposure to natural disasters is that there's this kind of critical period where if you're not exposed to additional stressors and you can begin to process and make sense of what happened, you can begin to heal. It's almost like a concussion¹². If you are continuously hit with new stressors after the initial stressor, it makes it much harder to heal. And with Katrina, we saw really an escalation¹³ of stressors. You know, we saw the scenes of desperation on rooftops and the convention center and all of that.

CHANG: Yeah.

RHODES: And I think that the responses in Houston and in Florida have been much quicker and have really tried to minimize additional stressors in ways that will have long-term implications for the survivors' mental health.

CHANG: Do you have a quick example of what you mean by that?

RHODES: Yeah. One thing that impressed me was that there was much less pet loss this time around.

CHANG: Oh.

RHODES: Shelters were much more open to including pets, and people weren't put in this forced choice between staying with their pets versus¹⁴ evacuating¹⁵. And because of that, there was less exposure and less trauma. And because we didn't have as much separation between pets and their owners, we probably will be seeing much less of that particular stress.

CHANG: That's psychologist Jean Rhodes of the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her study is called the RISK Project, which stands for Resilience in Survivors of Katrina. Thanks very much for speaking with us.

RHODES: You're welcome.

1 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

2 hurdles   

n.障碍( hurdle的名词复数 )；跳栏；（供人或马跳跃的）栏架；跨栏赛

参考例句：

• In starting a new company, many hurdles must be crossed. 刚开办一个公司时，必须克服许多障碍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There are several hurdles to be got over in this project. 在这项工程中有一些困难要克服。 来自辞典例句

3 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

4 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

5 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

6 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

9 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

10 awakening   

n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的

参考例句：

• the awakening of interest in the environment 对环境产生的兴趣
• People are gradually awakening to their rights. 人们正逐渐意识到自己的权利。

11 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

12 concussion   

n.脑震荡；震动

参考例句：

• He was carried off the field with slight concussion.他因轻微脑震荡给抬离了现场。
• She suffers from brain concussion.她得了脑震荡。

13 escalation   

n.扩大，增加

参考例句：

• The threat of nuclear escalation remains. 核升级的威胁仍旧存在。 来自辞典例句
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。 来自辞典例句

14 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

15 evacuating   

撤离，疏散( evacuate的现在分词 )； 排空（胃肠），排泄（粪便）； （从危险的地方）撤出，搬出，撤空

参考例句：

• The solution is degassed by alternately freezing, evacuating and thawing. 通过交替的冻结、抽空和溶化来使溶液除气。
• Are we evacuating these potential targets? 能够在这些目标地域内进行疏散吗？