Paper Example on Adjusting to School-Shooting Trauma: Role of Attachment

The article is “The role of attachment in recovery after a school-shooting trauma” in the “European Journal of Psychotraumatology” by Tuija Turunen, Henna Haravuori, Raija-Leena Punamäki, Laura Suomalainen and Mauri Marttunen published in 2014. The article is about the attachment theory that helps to understand the coping skills and how an individual regulates their stress when they are faced with anxiety from trauma.

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The above article describes how students adjust to life after a school shooting in Finland concerning attachment, which develops in an individual at an early stage in life. However, it does not cover other aspects of recovery, like the quality of guidance and the degree of the traumatic event. The students exhibit different attachment theory patterns, including secure and insecure. The attachment theory provides a method to decipher the coping skills and stress regulation when an individual is faced by a traumatic occurrence.

School shootings are severe traumatic events, and it leads a victim to dissociate themselves from people and social activities. They feel that by separating themselves, they can avoid feelings of pain, fear, and helplessness. However, dissociation sets them up for long-term mental health effects. Dissociation symptoms include depersonalization and amnesia (Turunen et al., 2014). Although trauma has its adverse effects, it can also impact a victim positively. It can increase their self-confidence, make them wiser and stronger emotionally.

They appreciate life more as they feel grateful for surviving the ordeal like a school shooting, where some people probably got killed. They then associate themselves with people more than before. Secure attachment is, therefore, crucial to protect a victim from mental health disorders and to recover better (Turunen et al., 2014). Mental health professionals need to identify an individual's attachment style so they can administer treatment in different degrees.

Attachment theory shows than a child communicates uniquely to their closest people and develop that way at an early age (Turunen et al., 2014). It determines their level of self-security and around other people to how they react emotionally to threats and distress. It gets honed in them and is a basis for their future relationships. When an individual feels secure, they are confident in people around them that they will receive the right treatment when they get traumatized.

They are also comfortable with their coping skills, and they can deal with emotions from traumatic events. An insecure person does not find it convenient to confide with other people when faced with a traumatic event (Turunen et al., 2014). They find it risky, and they have trouble regulating their emotions, and they experience feelings of helplessness. Attachment theory, therefore, has a massive impact on how an individual recovers throughout the healing process.

A traumatic event, like a school shooting, reveals these attachment patterns, which influence the mental health conditions of an individual and how they work to regulate and cope with their emotions. When an individual feels secure, they are less likely to experience severe mental health disorders like posttraumatic stress disorder (Turunen et al., 2014). It shows that it is a protective measure against stress. Insecurity is a weakness as it exposes one of the psychological effects.

A study on students who experience a school shooting in Finland reveals preoccupied, avoidant, and secure attachment patterns, 22%, 35%, and 43%, respectively (Turunen et al., 2014). According to the study, the preoccupied style of attachment was less protective against dissociative and PTSD symptoms. Students with a secure attachment style were less vulnerable to dissociative and PTSD symptoms as expected.

It shows that those students with insecure-preoccupied styles have a hard time progressing from the trauma from the school shooting. The students with preoccupied attachment patterns continued to have symptoms of PTSD even after 16 months post the shooting incident (Turunen et al., 2014). Those with avoidant patterns at the start did not experience any dissociative or PTSD symptoms at the beginning but it takes a turn for the worse after two years (Turunen et al., 2014). They start experiencing the symptoms that are more intrusive than the other cases in individuals with preoccupied attachment style. It shows the recovery process is unique in individuals with varying attachment styles.

The attachment theory shows how individuals react differently to traumatic events like school shootings in how they show their emotions, look for support, and how they cope with the condition. The study in the above article starts four months into the shooting and 16 months later. At the beginning of the study, the students still have fresh memories of the events, and it is when PTSD and dissociative symptoms are most evident. After 16 months, the symptoms vary depending on the attachment style, and they are more apparent with students with preoccupied attachment patterns. Students with a secure method have fewer symptoms, and it is because they trust other people's support, problem-solving skills, and self-soothing. They are also able to assess their mental state, making it easy for them to look for help when they feel like.

School shootings have a significant impact on individuals involved and not just students, and they need to heal after those events. There are three stages of healing, including acute, intermediate, and long-term phases (Lowe & Galea, 2016). During the acute stage, an individual is still in shock, denial, and disbelief. It is necessary that during this stage that an individual is made aware of their situation by a professional so that they can be ready for any lasting effects. It can help reduce their feelings of helplessness, anxiety, and fear (Milevsky, 2014). Individuals affected by school shootings should, therefore, take advantage of it to help prevent long-term psychological effects. It makes them feel connected with other people; therefore, avoiding isolation, which can worsen their mental condition.

The intermediate stage is when one starts experiencing sleeping problems, depression, low concentration spans, anxiety, anger, and fear. The victims must continue to seek help from professionals to help them through it until they understand that they are just effects and that they need to get back to their normal lives even though it might prove difficult. At this stage, a victim may have episodes of trauma; therefore, they need to improve their mental condition and regain control of their emotions to lead normal lives (Milevsky, 2014). Writing and breathing exercises are vital in managing stress, which is as a result of memories of the unfortunate events of school shootings. Victims need to participate more in social and school activities to ensure that they feel comfortable around people and rediscover their human touch.

The final phase is the long-term stage, and it starts long later after the shooting occurrence. Children recover better from adults, and they may no longer need professional help (Milevsky, 2014). Victims may still experience relapse, and they can still be on the adjustment period. At this stage, they begin feeling self-worthy again, gratitude, and having a purpose in life. They now have an experience of how it feels like to go through the healing process, and they can help others out. However, it is a very crucial stage as one may spiral off and get into substance abuse, experience anxiety, and flashbacks (Rossin-Slater et al., 2019).

Every victim must be closely monitored until they heal completely. One may feel that they are behind in development as they still struggle. It leads to persistent posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and one may have a hard time recovering. A victim must stay close to their family and friends to help alleviate their symptoms. If one does not heal in the final stage, then they may need long-term help.

Failure to heal may be as a result of pre-existing mental disorders like anxiety and depression. It leads to posttraumatic stress disorder and severe bipolar syndrome (Milevsky, 2014). Previous cases of trauma can also cause it. It is predictable by assessing the level of support that victims receive and how they cope with the situation. Some people can blame themselves for the condition, for example, their failure to save their friends who got killed in the school shooting incident. Such victims are at a higher risk of long-term mental effects. It has excellent support and coping skills; they recover at a faster and more effective rate.

School shootings have great effects on the life of students as they become horrified and fearful, and they no longer enjoy the school environment. It causes mental health problems like anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress disorders, bipolar syndrome, and acute stress disorder (Beland & Kim, 2016). It is as a result of the dangerous events that unfold during school shootings, and it affects the mental state of students. Survivors of school shootings are affected differently, and they all have different recovery rates. Recovery from mental health conditions depends on their social relations and personality (Draucker, 2019). They need to control their emotions effectively to recover as soon as their lives get back to normal. School shootings have both short-term and long-term mental health effects, and the recovery process can be explained with the attachment theory.

Conclusion

It is a challenging task to deal with individuals experiencing trauma from school shooting as it is life-threatening moments, and the scenes at the moment are very explicit. They are likely to affect an individual for a long time. Attachment patterns are, therefore, essential to establish how to help an individual to recover from trauma and other mental disorders like PTSD. It is because individuals exhibit different methods of coping, seeking help, and emotional reactions. According to the study on the students in Finland, students with avoidant and preoccupied insecure patterns are most likely to experience dissociative and PTSD symptoms. Students with preoccupied insecure attachment patterns are open to receiving support and speaking their mind about the events of the school shooting.

However, those with avoidant insecure attachment patterns than to keep to themselves as they do not want to open up, and they do not wish to seek help. It makes them more vulnerable to dissociative and PTSD symptoms in a large scale or for a longer time. Research is needed to establish more ways to support individuals who experience traumatic events like a school shooting concerning the attachment theory. Also, the study should determine how individuals seek help, depending on their attachment pattern.

References

Beland, L., & Kim, D. (2016). The effect of high school shootings on schools and student performance. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 38(1), 113-126. https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373715590683

Draucker, C. B. (2019). The mental health consequences of mass school shootings: What do we need to know? Journal of Advanced Nursing, 76(2), 423-425. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.14258

Lowe, S. R., & Galea, S. (2016). The mental health consequences of mass shootings. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 18(1), 62-82. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838015591572

Milevsky, A., & Avidan Milevsky, L. (2014). Understanding adolescents for helping professionals. Springer Publishing Company.

Rossin-Slater, M., Schnell, M., Schwandt, H., Trejo, S., & Uniat, L. (2019). Local exposure to school shootings and youth antidepressant use.