Rained-On Ground Hardens: Part IV

Coping mechanisms are how people recover from or prevent the trauma related to stressors or stressful events. The aim is to reduce, tolerate, or overcome stress. Engaging these can help regulate emotions and cope with the environment following an event, and common mechanisms include religion, talking to loved ones or professionals, engaging community resources, and becoming closer to loved ones. While there is no single set of protective resources, there are some characteristics that increase positive outcomes, namely social integration, personal coping strategies, baseline vulnerability, and available resources. Ongoing community support is also vital but not always something that can be provided.

Demographics and traumatic events that occurred prior to the natural disaster can affect outcomes. Unfortunately, compounding the trauma with poverty, discrimination, exploitation, and generational trauma can have profound effects to responses to tragedy. However, even if people have strong coping mechanisms and few or no destructive factors, they can still experience utter mental devastation following natural disasters.