This next guest survived a hurricane,
but since then, life has not been the same.
Brittany, please tell us what happened.
In 2004, I had a near-death experience in Hurricane Ivan.
We were under mandatory evacuation, we did not evacuate.
I was stuck riding out the storm with my boyfriend,
at the time's, family.
We rode out the storm and at one point,
the winds got up to 165 miles an hour.
Wow.
And there was over 100 tornadoes.
That was really what was the most--
Scary part.
The scary part about it.
Yeah.
You don't think
in a hurricane that you are going to have to worry
about hundreds of tornadoes.
And I guess my question is, for the longest time,
I disassociated with it.
It was very easy for me not to think about it.
And now, in 2019, the triggers happen,
whether it's the Santa Ana winds or it's a storm
or the roads get a little bit flooded,
suddenly I am having a panic attack or I can't breathe.
Yeah.
I'm having a hard time
talking about it right now.
We understand and a very common response
when you have a traumatic event happen to you
is to try to distance yourself and not think about it.
While it works for the short run, in the long run,
they come back because the memory is still there
and the more you suppress it, the harder it comes back,
which is why you're having these panic attacks,
'cause you get into fight or flight mode
whenever you have any kind of little trigger.
Really, the goal is to try to restore your sense
of power again, because you felt helpless in that moment.
Yeah.
And I have a couple
of quick tips for you.
The first thing is, you do have to plan and rehearse
what will happen if you are ever stuck in a storm again.
Even if it feels silly,
this is why we have earthquake and fire drills,
and doing that gets it into your muscle memory
and also tells you can get out of it.
The second thing you have to do is try to reframe
your connection with anything
that reminds you of a storm.
Start to actually associate the rain, a light thunderstorm,
where you know they're not life threatening,
with calming things.
Putting on some beautiful music, lighting a candle,
taking deep breaths; recreate new associations
between things that tend to trigger you
and a calming environment.
That will really tell your body that you don't
need to go into flight or fight all the time.
And we also wanna help you with some professional support
because you do need to process the pieces
of your trauma a little bit at a time so
that you can smooth out this experience for you
and hopefully get over these trauma symptoms.
So the Trauma Counseling Center of Los Angeles
is offering you eight sessions
to help you move on from your experience.
Thank you.
(audience applauding)
Thank you so much for having the courage--
Thank you.
To come on and please,
take the counseling sessions so that you can
move forward, okay.
Thank you.
(audience applauding)
Thank you so much, Brittany.
Thank you.
Know that we wish you the best, okay.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
