How can you manage stress when dealing with the aftermath of a terrorist attack?

Stress can be likened to placing your hand on a hot burner. Just as you wouldn't keep your hand there when you feel the heat, it's essential to recognize the signs of stress and take action to alleviate it. When you are experiencing feelings of anxiety, fear, anger, sadness, guilt, or are you having difficulty sleeping, eating, or concentrating, headaches, muscle tension, or fatigue. You know your hand is on the burner, take it off. Then employ some self care - deep belly breaths while feeling the rising of your chest or stomach. Become extremely curious at what is causing the stress, seek the help of a friend, coach or therapist to help you process through. Four of the top five causes of death are stress-related (Psychology Today).

Limit your sources of news and information. You need a reliable source, but over-saturation can occur without warning. It is imperative to think about yourself. Self-care isn't selfish --- it is imperative to survival. Ask yourself "What is Important Now"? (WIN). If it isn't important or essential, then put it on the backburner. Know what your limits are and don't push those boundaries. If you can't sleep, eat or be at peace with any kind of semblance --- then you are well on your way to being no good to yourself and then no good to others. You must guard against falling victim to NOT being able to do THE BIG 3 as I just mentioned before.

1. Self-Care: Prioritize physical and mental well-being. 2. Peer Support: Discuss feelings with colleagues. 3. Seek Professional Help: If needed, consult a counselor. 4. Decompression: Engage in stress-relieving activities. 5. Time Management: Organize tasks and priorities. 6. Limit Exposure: Avoid excessive media coverage. 7. Focus on Resilience: Acknowledge that recovery takes time. 8. Seek Closure: Pursue ongoing support and healing. 9. Learn from Experience: Use insights to improve preparedness. 10. Collaborate: Work with a supportive team to share the emotional burden.

Many police forces in the United Kingdom use the Trauma Risk Management (TRiM) approach. The police use this approach after traumatic road collisions and similar incidents including terrorist incidents. TRiM is a trauma-focused peer support system that helps people who have experienced a traumatic, or potentially traumatic, event, recognise the signs of stress. Personnel are not trained therapists but can help individuals recognise stress. As an analogy; consider our levels of stress as a glass of water. We begin empty. Water is added to the glass after each traumatic event. Recognising and dealing with incident-related stress allows the glass to be emptied slightly and prevents an overflow which can result in mental ill health.

Self-care isn't selfish --- it's essential! In an airplane when any form of significant emergency takes place ... the oxygen mask drops down in front of you and you are directed to "put your mask on first". If you can't help yourself ... then you can't have any hope of helping anyone else. You must prioritize YOU! We always train during Active Shooter Risk Mitigation Training that it is okay to "run away and live to play another day". You have to build muscle memory that says, "I am important" ... "I have value and worth" and I must help myself in order to be in a position to help others. You have to think clearly in order to act decisively.

Often simply talking about a stressful event is enough, but sometimes peer-support is insufficient. It is important to recognise a change in your usual behaviour and to seek help as soon as possible. Recognising this early allows it to be dealt with more effectively. Ignoring these issues often results in deeper issues going forward. Support can be from friends or family members, listening-ear services such as the Samaritans or other charities, or alternatively mental health professionals. Seeking support is actively encouraged by the emergency services and whilst it can be difficult to ask for help, doing so is extremely beneficial. None of us are immune from stress.

There is no weakness in asking for help. Actually, it is just the contrary. Asking for help shows strength. It shows that you are self-aware, and self-awareness leads to a reduction in suffering. Isn't that the ultimate goal in every aspect of our lives ... to reduce our suffering? If you find yourself isolating yourself or having any ideation of possibly harming yourself -- due to the overwhelming perceived or real circumstances that you may find yourself in. Please ... reach out, seek help. The life that you save --- may very well be yours. Talking with someone, anyone can be the essential pressure release that you need.

"Coping" represents behavioral and cognitive efforts to deal with stressful encounters. The first is: Problem-focused, which addresses the problem, and secondly emotion-focused, which mainly deals with the emotional and psychological outcomes of the stressful problem. Some common responses to terrorist threats, such as religious beliefs, social support from friends and relatives, sharing thoughts and feelings, and participating in social activities that provide a sense of community can be very helpful. Some people act in ways that were found to be beneficial in situations of uncertainty and helplessness, such as searching for and collecting information whereas others try to avoid any information in order to forget the attacks.

There is only so much a person can do when it comes to "preparation" for future attacks. Having the essential "kits" and "go-bags" is always a good thing to have in place --- yet, you never know where you may be when an attack is launched. You are subject to the randomness of an attack and you may not be anywhere near your "supplies" in order to access them. Risk can only be mitigated ... it can't be eliminated. If you live in a volatile region of the world where strife is common-place (or more so) --- these are all things that must be considered when you put down "roots". Many people don't realize that "peace" is made with your "enemies" ... not your "friends". You can only do so much -- beyond that you simply just must live.

It is important to note that the old British adage of a "stiff-upper lip" is very often completely ineffective when dealing with traumatic events. It is important to recognise that everybody deals with stress from traumatic events in different ways. My experience has shown me that people will deal with two similar traumatic events completely differently. Using the glass of water analogy, after each traumatic event, water is added to the glass. If the stress is not dealt with, the water remains in the glass. Nobody knows when a later stressful situation will cause the glass to overflow. The new incident may seem entirely straightforward and not stressful in its own right, but owing to the glass being full, it results in mental ill health.

Remember that everyone will process stress differently. What is helpful for one person may not be helpful for you. It is helpful to identify the emotions that you are feeling and learn what works for you to process these emotions in healthy ways.

Self-care is the is important, but after such aftermath take an opportunity to a group debriefing session. Debriefing is beneficial until professional help becomes available. Professional help can sometimes take days after such aftermath.