The catastrophic nature of this event is vast and far reaching. The ecology of the Gulf of Mexico has been severely damages. The individuals that live along the Gulf have had there lives altered.
The oil floods into the gulf everyday and the rhythm of life is disrupted. For starters fisherman can’t fish that means they don’t buy ice, beer, bait, gas. They don’t need mates or require marine mechanics. Charter boat captains don’t take clients out fishing. Hotels suffer, restaurants suffer, the beaches are spoiled and tourists stay away.
The harvesting of seafood from the gulf dramatically slows. We can safely say there will be a dramatic slow down in tourism in the Gulf States and changes in a way of life that has lasted for hundreds of years. That’s a short explanation of the chain of events dismantling a way of life.
The first problem is the immediate financial stresses. No money to pay bills, this causes anxiety and depression. The physical environment around people is ugly and smells. Even if they can’t see or smell the oil, the images on television make it real to them. The massive scale of the event gives people a sense of hopelessness. The routine of work and play are disrupted. People are no longer getting up and going to there normal job. When routines are broken and people are stressed, people feel angry, anxious, depressed and hopeless. They drink more alcohol; take more Roxycodone, Oxycodone, Xanax and Marijuana. People fight with one another, while others become apathetic, no work, no hope and no future. Depression and addiction become serious problems.
It gets worse, individual identities are lost. Boat captains, shrimpers, shukers, are identities people didn’t just acquire but were born into. These people aren’t trained. They are not performing a job. They are uniquely tuned to the environment and raised to deal with all its complexities to earn a livelihood. Families, friends and communities are geared and knowledgeable about how to survive on the gulf. These skills don’t translate well into other positions. I hate to go on but there are alarming images of death of fish, birds, porpoises, turtles, and other wildlife. There is a sense of panic, alarm and urgency. Like the feeling you get when there is a fire in your house which is out of control. That is the feeling the Gulf residents are experiencing everyday.
As a Psychiatrist who lives along the East Coast of Florida, the impact for me has been minimal. The suffering endured by the Gulf residents is enormous compared to my own. I am a fanatic fisherman who travels to the Keys, the West Coast of Florida and the Panhandle. It saddens me that my son may not experience all the magnificent and beauty of the Gulf and Florida as I have.
The question for displaced Gulf residents is now what? They face financial ruin, depression, anxiety, hopelessness and panic: What to do? Getting mad at BP won’t help. Stopping the leak is everyone’s primary goal. Next would be to clean up the mess. The residents of the Gulf need to empower themselves in order to organize and begin the clean-up and process of recovery. Each individual must take charge of there life again. It’s time to reboot, the old life is done. As sickening as that sounds the only psychological approach is to focus on the positive and focus on what can be done. Everyone must open there thinking to new ideas and new ways to live. New institutions and organizations will form to tackle the problems of this scale. These organizations will exist for hundreds of years. The restoration of the Gulf is essential.
The economy is down, hurricanes have battered New Orleans and now the spill. It’s not time to be angry, be depressed, use drugs or panic. Focus on what you can do. Accept what has happened. Make the best of this tragedy. This is essential for psychological survival. It’s easier to be brave than it is to be afraid. Anger, blame and pointing fingers don’t help.
This situation is so bad, mental health counseling is crucial. Drug dependency treatment will be necessary. Job training will be needed, Psychiatric interventions with medication is essential.
The oil will stop, the Gulf will be cleaned up eventually and life will return to the Gulf. That’s the will of the people and it will happen.