Disasters & Humans ADMS 3706

Lecture 7

Social Vulnerability

Disasters & Humans ADMS 3706

Overview- Lecture 6
Social Vulnerability

Disaster Mental Health:

Psychological First Aid
Cri8cal Incident Stress Management

Interna8onal Disasters
Complex and Signicant Challenges
(Vulnerabili+es) Faced by Global
Emergency Management




Case 2- Sri Lanka 2004 Tsunami

(Vulnerabili+es) Faced by Global
Emergency Management

Recognize the
limits of disaster
Disillusionment Phase assistance
Psychosocial /Psychological
Survivors are
Physiological Factors
coming to grips of
their reality
Abandonment and
resentment of
others
Financial
pressures
Stress of living
conditions and
relocation

Disillusionment Phase
Disaster Psychology: Conict

Disillusionment Phase
Several months to several years
Mood of disillusionment overlays the
en8re preprocess of reconstruc8on and
recovery

Collec8ve Vulnerability
People relocate to temporary housing
Away from neighbours - other natural social
support:
a)Church, mosque, temple, synagogue
b)Clinics, businesses
c)Child care, recrea8on programs
d)Schools

Vulnerability Factors (disaster relief)

The Second Disaster

The process of seeking h elp - frustra8ng rules -
red tape - hassles delays - disappointments
Government
Volunteer agencies
Insurance companies

 Vulnerability Factors
Survivors discover - nancial benets loans -
not grants
Home insurance - not what they thought
Poli8cs, rather than need - shape decisions
Neighbour with damaged chimney received
greater benets than collapsed roof

Vulnerability Factors cont.

Zoning laws change
Insurance company goes bankrupt
Unscrupulous contractors

Vulnerability Factors
cont.

Community cohesion and

collabora8on begin to decline
Blame
Scarce Resources
Priori8es for ac8on

Vulnerability Factors cont.

Outside groups and agencies phase out
Other organiza8ons o^en collapse
Feeling of shared community diminishes

Vulnerability Factors cont.

It becomes obvious to survivors need
for
a)Solving their own problems
b)Rebuilding their homes businesses

Psychosocial/Psychological/Physiological
Interconnec8on
Adrenalin runs down
Fa8gue sets in
Living in temporary housing becomes increasingly
stressful
Family stresses lead to disrup8on of in8macy and
support conict starts to brew family and
community
Domes8c violence may occur

Psychosocial/Psychological/Physiological
Interconnec8on cont.
Fear anxiety guilt - vulnerability creeps in
What if syndrome
Stress induced symptoms occur children - other
complica8ons: soiling etc
i. Exacerba8on of exis8ng health condi8ons
ii. Immune system decline - allergies
iii.Sleep problems - fa8gue cogni8ve impairment -
irritability

Disaster Psychology
Conict:
Produc8ve or Destruc8ve?

Conict: Introduc8on
Conict is a fact of life occurs naturally all
kinds of secngs
Na8ons - struggle
Families can fracture
Rela8onships face challenges
Workplace stress bullying - blaming

Conict

People - prefer peace harmony - calm

interac8on o^en involved in situa8ons
Tense
Escala8ng
Uncomfortable

No other op8on stay out of conict unless

we stay out of
Rela8onships
Families
Work
Community

Nature of Conict
People usually engage in conict over goals
important to them
React if they perceive interference from others
achieving that goal
Fearing scarce resources
Percep8on is at the core of all conict analysis
If conict is unclear cannot be solved

 Conict - basic human requirement

Infec8ve resolu8on disputes adds pessimism - hopelessness
Learning essen8al interpersonal skills results in -
construc8ve conict
Change conict resolu8on skills pay big dividends in
interpersonal rela+onships

A^ermath of a Disaster:
Conict following a disaster dicult and complicated

Conict not a bad sign the way a conict is handled the individuals

group thrive
Number conicts experienced - does not predict poor health/well-being
individual percep8on of the conict, is it resolvable?
Ineec8ve resolu8on of interpersonal disputes experience emo8ons
fear, anger, resentment, adds pessimism and hopelessness
It can be produc+ve or destruc+ve depending on 1) context in which it occurs
and b) kinds of communica+on used

Conict resolu8on not inborn set of responses -

developed repertoire - communica8on skills
Learned
Rened
Prac8ced

Conict and Disillusionment Phase

A^ermath of a Disaster:
Interdependence
No special interest doesnt aect you no
conict
Par8es are locked together like it or not
Persons ac8ons aects you interdependent
could be conict
Gridlock

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

4 behaviours Ride Into a Rela8onship The end is near!

Cri8cizing

contempt

defensiveness

stonewalling

Defensiveness
Desire to protect themselves against
Pain
Fear
Personal responsibility
New informa8on
Defensiveness predominates power struggle
chronic gh8ng desire for retalia8on - war

Retalia+on
Conict par8cipant destroy chances for change
when they Dont get mad get even!
Pile up grievances
Hold grudges
Wait for opportuni8es to retaliate
Passive aggressive blatant aggression

What lies beneath conict?

Iden8ty: Who Am I in This Interac8on

Iden8ty specic desire to maintain and protect one
sense of self iden8ty
Self-esteem seen as scarce resource
When opponent begins to perceive you are
damaging his/her sense of self stakes get higher

Iden8ty:
Who Am I in This Interac8on
People try to avoid loss of face by defending against
humilia8on embarrassment exclusion demeaning
conversa8on
Demeaning communica8on creates ongoing pain/
dissa8sfac8on conict remains unresolved deep level
o^en seek support from outside par8es aairs can brew

Case Study Report

FBI had to help the men save face while trying to free the
hostages
FBI transcripts - involving 2 dierent cases
1. Armed suicidal man barricaded inside a TV sta8on lost his
job - holding hostages Statement Its understandable that
you would be feeling overwhelmed about your future.
2. Armed man holding his children hostage wife le^ him
youve got a hole lot of people who care about you
Some8mes face is saved ahead of 8me in these cases
restored a^er there has been some loss


Emo+ons in Conict

 Emo8on underlying arousal - states of feelings

Conict always takes place on the emo8onal dimension- feel
some emo8onal charge
Conicts remain unresolved when individual feels
misunderstood
Resolu8on depends on our ability to work with not close o
or repress human emo8on
Like moving water dammed up no outlet becomes
stagnant, dries up, becomes toxic or freezes

Principles of Emo8on in Conict

1. Conict depends upon enough emo8on to get the job done hard to
avoid
2. Emo8onal events trigger responses realize conict when we feel
uncomfortable
3. Intensity of emo8on varies through the conict process strong at
beginning and less intense at the end
4. We experience emo8on as good or bad we evaluate subjec8vely
nega8ve or posi8ve i.e., psychoeduca8on grief process
5. Become emo8onal when our iden8ty is at stake
6. Rela8onship are dened by kind of emo8on expressed even slight
disappointment can ruin a friendship

Emo8ons Help us Adapt

1. Behavioural goals depend on our feelings- mo8va8on
2. Each emo8on serves dierent func8ons- dierent
emo8ons help us accomplish dierent tasks
3. Signicant personal situa8ons trigger organized
pamerns of emo8ons complex feelings and
thoughts o^en mixed. i.e., feel guilt betrayed your
partner - dont want to apologize s8ll angry for
feeling disrespected EI important to recognize
feelings/emo8ons

Emo8ons Help us Adapt

4. Emo8on-behaviour pamerns develop early in life we build on
them some people move towards people when sad others
run away amachment theory


5. Individual personali8es the blocks of emo8on-behaviour
pamerns bring our personality into a conict people dier
how long tolerate anger, hos8lity or uncertainty

Troublesome Emo8ons

Anger
Strong feeling of displeasure lethal if expressed with
contempt, disgust, exaggera8on, shaming, other
strong nega8ve feelings
Produc+ve if expressed in a clear, calm, respecnul,
honest, and compassionate way
Anger diers from aggression aggression is an amack
feeling angry is percep8on of unfairness or
injus8ce

Anger Cont.
Use anger to act helps people set boundaries whats
acceptable and not
Expressing anger (unrestrained way) creates more anger
ven8ng does not help
Talking anger through without promo8ng escala8on helpful
Repressing anger makes people sick (anxiety, stress
symptoms) and unhappy (depression)

Fear and Anxiety

Fear leads people to avoid
As anger does not always lead to gh8ng fear does not
necessarily lead to eeing
Some8mes leads to freeze not able to do anything
withdraw from painful emo8on threatening our integrity or
loss of a person role or posi8on
Fear creates tunnel vision- focus only on threat instead of
what might really be whats happening worry about what
may happen - becomes anxiety

Anger-Fear Sequence
Fear and hurt underlie most emo8ons of anger
Fear makes us feel vulnerable
We then express anger more socially acceptable than
fear
Example
You referred your contractor to your neighbour to get his
roof repaired he took his down payment and le^
town. Fear being judged as an idiot by your
community

Hurt
Intense emo8on feeling psychologically injured by
another person
Experience strong intense feelings of:
Agony
Despair
Anger
Sadness
Suering

 Hurt dicult to experience without blame

Made worse person that caused hurt does not listen or
accept any responsibility
Rela8onal transgressions include:
Betraying condence
Leaving someone out
Lying and covering up
Forgecng plans or special occasions

Shame, Guilt, Regret

People break social norms receive formal or
informal social sanc8ons they may feel these
emo8ons
We try to avoid shameful situa8ons loose face, self
esteem feel miserable
Regret can play helpful role to repair rela8onship
when we atone for mistakes

Disgust, Contempt, and Revulsion

Emo8ons that move to expel something

noxious or repulsive
Try to get rid of someone when we use
Disdain
Contempt
So angry dont want to engage
Lost the respect of the other person toxic
situa8on Burn out!

Power: The Structure of Conict

What is Power?
Fundamental concept in conict theory
Percep+ons of power heart of any analysis
We respond to conict dierently based on orienta8ons to what
power is: posi8ve, nega8ve, or benign
Three clusters:
1. Designated (given by posi8on) i.e., boss, police, mother, father
2. Distributed either dominate or forced into low power role -
3. Integra8ve focus on both/and or we each person is responsible
to achieve something

Orienta8ons to Power
No one can escape feeling the eects of power
We need it to live the life we want accomplish
goals
Want to inuence events make a dierence
Want our voices heard - rights
Protect ourselves against perceived harm dont
want vic8mized, misused or demeaned hold

Orienta8ons to Power
Not sugges8ng power should not be an issue
Suggest when power itself becomes main focus of thinking
& discussion- escala8ng power struggle i.e., you cant boss me
around
Power becomes only personal goal dispute harder to
resolve
Struggles over power are directly related to rela8onship
sa8sfac8on

Eec8ve System: How Concerns Rank

Power
Rights
Interests

Power Imbalances

Percep8on of power is mostly always inaccurate

Each person rmly believes that the other person has more
power i.e., mom and teenager
Power can corrupt powerless can also corrupt likely to
produce organized resistance
Believe low power posi8on conict escalates people use
devious and manipula8ve tac8cs since they feel they have no
choice
Each party amempts to increase power at the others expense
next round bringing more moves
Imbalance produce system wide eects on rela8onships

Power Imbalances
Paradox more you struggle against someone less power
you have with person
More powerful we feel more we set ourselves up for
resistance
Power leads to downward spiral lessens our ability to
accomplish our goals

Studies: Destruc8ve Conict - families

Severe parental conict predicts internal/external conict
adolescents
Children are present mood shi^s nega8ve behaviours toward
children
Nega8ve conict reduces familys network friends loneliness
Eects of ongoing conict greater impact on adolescence
distress than divorce

Construc8ve Power Balancing

Possible to develop prac8ces power isnt
used against people but for mutual benet
With coopera8on create more power than
you would separately
Shared power is powerful and energe8c not
weak - requires great skill

Resilience Against Destruc8ve Conict

Emo8onal Intelligence

1.
2.
3.
4.

Conict management draws upon the skills Emo8onal Intelligence

Capacity of recognizing our own feelings those of others
4 components:
Self-awareness
Self-management
Social Awareness
Social skills