Column: Trauma's effects spread

We've all got our rules about how the world is supposed to work. And when it doesn't work that way, it can be unsettling.

But when the difference between what is and what's supposed to be puts our lives or our safety at risk, it's more than that - it can be traumatic.

Trauma victims aren't just upset or scared - they're at sea, overwhelmed, with no idea what to believe or who to trust. Their world's foundations have been rocked by some disaster, violence or abuse.

They can become scared, anxious, angry or depressed, can have a hard time focusing or relating to other people.

To cope, they may turn to high-risk behaviors, to drugs or alcohol. They may think about suicide.

But the strange thing about trauma isn't that it happens to victims and witnesses of horrifying events - that makes perfect sense.

The strange thing about trauma is that it's communicable.

Like a virus, maybe more like a heavy bag, trauma can be passed from one person to the next.

It's called secondary trauma, vicarious trauma or compassion fatigue. It's found in emergency workers, counselors, jurors, journalists - any population repeatedly exposed to suffering.

People like Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, suspected of killing 12 soldiers and wounding more than two dozen more in a shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas, on Thursday.

Hasan, once a fellow for disaster and preventive psychology at the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, counseled soldiers returning from war - listened to countless stories of trauma and loss.

Or people like the Grundy County jurors who recently sat through days of wrenching testimony in Michelle Kehoe's first-degree murder trial.

Witnesses in that trial said the Coralville mother, who slit the throats of her two young sons, had also been scarred by childhood abuse.

And even though jurors weren't physically at risk, their immersion into the case's grim details could cause them real psychological harm.

And so it goes.

We can't predict how people will react to disastrous or violent events, or who will suffer secondary trauma. Even in the same event, no two people will be affected in exactly the same way.

The good news is that with help and support, most can recover.

Terrible things always are going to happen. You can count on that.

But by understanding the risks and the symptoms of trauma, we can help keep trauma from spreading.

Jennifer Hemmingsen's column appears on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Contact the writer at (319) 339-3154 or jennifer.hemmingsen@gazcomm.com