Have you ever experienced an extreme emotional
reaction that seems way out of proportion to the
event that triggered it? If you have ever had this
experience or know someone who has, you might
explore whether there is any significance to the
date or time of year – is it the anniversary of
something traumatic that happened in the past? If
so, you might be experiencing something called
"anniversary stress".
For years, October has been a challenging month for
me, and I didn't understand why. I used
to attribute it to the added stress of the
approaching holidays. But I came to realize that
October was stressful to me for a very logical reason.
On October 17, 1989, the Loma Prieta Earthquake hit
the San Francisco Bay Area and rocked my world -
literally. My oldest son was just two years old and
I was pregnant with my second child. Home alone with
my son, I crouched in the doorway of my bedroom
trying to form a human shield to protect my babies
from what appeared to be the imminent collapse of
our home.
Fortunately, our house remained standing, but the
terror of it stayed with us for many years. Just
a week earlier, my family narrowly escaped a
catastrophic collision with a drunk driver. October
was etched in my subconscious mind as a month to be
wary of.
Until I became aware of anniversary stress, I was
plagued with irrational emotional
upsets every year in October. I can’t tell you how
many times I tried to break up with my boyfriend in
the month of October – it’s a
wonder he stuck with me! He’s my husband now, and
fortunately I’ve got a grip on this October thing.
My friend, Carol McClelland, Ph.D., author of The
Seasons of Change, is an expert on anniversary
stress. As an outreach effort to those who have
suffered the trauma of 9/11, Katrina or another
intense life crisis, she has produced a free
booklet, One
Year Later: Surviving the Katrina Anniversary.
If you or someone you know has suffered a traumatic
life event, I highly recommend this healing resource.
