ABSTRACT
Disastrous situations, whether naturally occurring (such as earthquakes, fires, floods and storms) or man-made (war, torture, violence, rape, child abuse), cause extreme disruption to the victims’ lives. Individuals, families, groups and even whole communities experience, or are threatened with, major material, physical and/or psychological loss (Drabek 1986). This may shatter the fundamental mental schemata which constitute one’s sense of personal, functional and interpersonal continuity and without which life is intolerable. The ‘basic schemata’ are the beliefs in one’s invulnerability, in the trustworthiness of some people and in the predictability, manageability and meaning of the world (Horowitz 1986; Omer 1991; Omer and Alon 1994; Antonowski 1990). Such an experience evokes extreme mental anguish, as well as bodily disruption: hyper-arousal and increased sympathetic nervous system activity and reactivity to stimulation. These are evidenced by an increased EEG, alpha activity, heart and respiratory rate, and by disturbed sleep patterns (Kaplan and Sadock 1991). They may have to do with alternations in dopamine and norepinephrine levels as well as of endogenous opioids in the brain (Kolb 1987; Van der Kolk 1988).
