Peter Norton advises Houstonians to remain calm as hurricane season continues.
As director of the University’s Anxiety Disorder Clinic, Norton has treated eight patients whose symptoms stemmed from hurricane-related anxieties. The associate psychology professor leads a team of graduate and undergraduate students in treating these disorders.
While Norton encourages people living in the Gulf Coast area to be prepared for hurricane season, some may become excessively worried.
‘There’s nothing wrong with being vigilant and being prepared,’ Norton said. ‘If you’re finding yourself spending considerable amounts of effort and time watching out for the next possible storm, that could be a sign that maybe it is affecting you a little bit more.’
Concurring with regional disaster relief officials, Norton strongly recommends forming an emergency plan – making sure that you have enough food and water – but added that local residents should not let preparation become an anxious preoccupation.
Norton said possible symptoms of hurricane anxiety include nightmares about storms, extreme agitation during regular thunderstorms and obsessive monitoring of weather reports. Those suffering from hurricane anxiety constantly watch the news forecast, even on bright sunny days, worried about the next storm.
‘They are always keyed up or on edge, eventually realizing that the extent of their anxiety is not normal,’ Norton said. ‘(There is) always a fine line between just being prepared for a possible disaster, which can happen as we saw last year, versus taking it to an excessive level.’
Once a patient contacts the clinic, treatment at the facility typically consists of an initial thorough assessment, followed by a consistent psychological program.
Norton said with any anxiety disorder, there are two treatment options.
The first is a non-medication, psychological approach called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). The other avenue is a pharmacological or medication option. He said the CBT and the pharmacological options have been shown to be effective in countless research studies.
Norton said the CBT treatment involves two primary components. The cognitive component helps a person understand what the thoughts and assumptions are that drive the anxiety. A patient may think worrisome thoughts such as, ‘If another storm comes, I won’t be able to cope,’ or ‘Houston could get hit with a Katrina-like storm,’ Norton said.
Such thoughts may be true at some level, but essentially just provoke anxiety. While it is possible that Houston could get hit by a Katrina-like storm, the odds are actually quite small, he said.
Norton seeks to help people identify and challenge their anxious thinking, so they can come to a more realistic stance – ‘While it is possible that a major storm could hit, I’ve got every reason to believe that I could cope and evacuate.’
The behavioral aspect of CBT consists of exposing a person to triggers of anxiety.
Norton said, if treating a patient with arachnophobia, for example, he may start off by having them holding a plastic spider. Once they are comfortable with that challenge, they increase the intensity by having a live spider in a terrarium in the therapy room.
Eventually, the patient will habituate to having the live spider in the room and can progress to the point where he or she can actually handle the spider.
The same sort of principles apply to storm anxiety, he said, but with limitations to his triggering mechanisms.
‘It is a little more difficult because I can’t bring a hurricane into the room,’ Norton said.
Norton was named the recipient of the 2009 American Psychological Foundation’s Theodore Blau Early Career Award. The award honors psychologists who are within eight years of receiving their doctorate and have made a significant contribution to the practice of psychology.
Norton said he believes his award was in recognition of the treatment being conducted at the UH clinic, as well as his co-authorship of The Anti-Anxiety Workbook.
