Around Campus
conversation A Conversation with Tana Bridge by Darcy Gifford
Dr. Tana Bridge is a trauma expert and has been honored by the National Institute for Trauma and Loss as Consultant of the Year. She directs EMU’s master’s of social work program and works with individuals, families and community organizations on issues specific to loss, grief and working through trauma. She spoke with Eastern Magazine recently about how students might be affected by incidents of violence in their communities.
Eastern: How does violence affect the psyche of college-age students? I don’t mean violence in movies or video games, but when actual violence happens in their communities.
Bridge: Te people most likely to be impacted by violence, obviously, are the victims of it, as well as their close friends and family members.
However, you don’t necessarily have to know someone or be directly tied with a violent inci- dent for it to affect you. When we think about violence—and we think about traumatic inci- dents—college students are uniquely vulnerable to the negative impact due to their unique stage of life.
College students are learning about the world, and as they are forging forward they begin to separate from and act independently of their family or previous support group. When you’re forging your new life in this independent place, in this independent way, and a traumatic or a violent situation happens, there’s always the question of whether you are using your support systems. Are you calling home and talking to a parent about it? Or are you thinking, “I should be able to handle this because I’m an adult”? Are you trying to make sense and cope on your own?
When there are multiple incidents, college students may begin to question the safety of the world in which they live.
Eastern: What are different ways that people respond to trauma?
Bridge: Trauma by definition has a component of powerlessness. When somebody experiences a traumatic incident, it creates fear. When you’re afraid, you have a physical response, and be- cause fear is such a primal emotion, you have to get yourself to a place of safety.
One way people do that is they withdraw from their environment. “If it’s not safe for me to go into this community, then I just won’t go into this community. If it’s not safe for me to go to the bar, then I won’t go to the bar.” Tey’ll retreat to where they feel safe. For some people, it means atacking. It goes back to that fight, flight, or freeze response that people have. Tey’re going to try to push anything away and perhaps even engage in violent behavior in an effort to keep themselves safe. For others, it means ignoring the event. Tey pretend it just never happened, or that they’re not affected because aſter all, if it happens to them, it’s going to happen anyway. A concerning way individuals achieve a level of safety and manage the uneasiness of fear and anxiety is through destructive coping like substance abuse.
14 Eastern | SPRING 2014
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