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 Hurricane season is upon us.  These recurrent threats to our island, and in one form or another of our existence as we have learned to enjoy it, represent major stressors and as such can affect us both physically and mentally. 
 
Stress is best defined as a condition over which we have little or no control.  There is no better example than a large, potentially devastating storm (category four hurricane, like Floyd) headed in our direction.  Stress symptoms that ensue from such a threat include increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, release of all sorts of hormones, sleep deprivation, anxiety, and sometimes in some people fear.  If stress persists for long periods and unabated it can have major physiologic and psychological affects on our health. Fortunately, hurricanes come and go and in general do not have lasting affects - unless we sustain a direct hit like Charleston had with Hugo in 1989 or the flood ravaged sections of eastern North Carolina now several weeks after Floyd.

The Crescendo Effect
The very nature of modern hurricane forecasting ironically adds to the stress of the season.  Afterall, we now are alerted about "tropical disturbances" the moment they float off the African coast.  And as they develop and get "better formed" and finally are named and then begin to pose a "threat to the mainland," we already have been able to imagine the potential disruption that the hurricane can bring to our island.  The newspaper, the local television stations and the weather channel begin an early and unrelenting portrayal of the potential harm that these massive storms pose to us.  It is impossible to ignore this barrage of early warnings and as a storm gets closer to Seabrook only the most stoic can ignore it - even when the weather is picture perfect on our island we are able to imagine the high winds and rain out in the ocean.  This is the beginning of stress which only increases if the storm's path is predicted to come to Seabrook.  Floyd was an unusual stressor since it move so slowly for so long and we all had ample opportunity to be "warned" and thereby stressed.
 
Some the questions surround evacuation that plague (stress) us are: should we leave Seabrook, what should we take with us, should we board up our homes (or have someone else do it), how is our insurance, where can we go, what routes should we take, who will let us know about the damage, when can we return.  Then, as with Floyd there is the entire mess of evacuation on I-26 which resembled a parking lot more than an interstate - much has been written about "road rage" and the problems that this adds to evacuation.
  
Mental Health Prevention PlanI am not a psychiatrist, but I have read some material in the medical literature about such entities as Acute Stress Disorder and the ever popular Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.  These conditions are caused by events - usually individually suffered traumatic events, but may be natural disasters.  There are methods employed to prevent serious after affects of major trauma and although hurricanes are not generally considered the kind of trauma that provokes these syndromes - there are some lessons in preserving mental health that apply to hurricanes.  The table includes some steps to follow for hurricane mental health - these are entirely unproved, but borrowed by me from both the lay and medical literature as a method to minimize the stress and trauma of a major hurricane.
 
The first way to deal with hurricanes from a mental health standpoint is to accept the fact that with Atlantic island living hurricanes are the bad that goes with the good.  Hurricanes happen.  One can become preoccupied with the course of a storm and this is probably unhealthy - periodic updates are necessary, but not too frequent.  Since hurricanes are as certain as the ebb and flow of the tide on Seabrook, one should prepare for them by planning.  The time for planning is during the non-hurricane season.  A written plan is desirable including preparing a "hurricane box" that contains all the essentials that are required.  Floyd has taught us that we need to have alternative evacuation routes to I-26: 'nuff said.  A final and crucial step is to have an established communication link with a reliable information source regarding Seabrook.  The Seabrook Property Owner's association, for example, has a website, but it did not provide useful information after Floyd.  The Post-Courier website was better (gave information on Kiawah), but not perfect.  Authorities and officials on our island need to decide how best to provide reliable information about the status of Seabrook after a hurricane so that those who have evacuated can ease their anxiety and stress. 
 
We have a nearly a year to implement our hurricane stress-reduction plan!  We can depend on new hurricane visitors next year or the year after.