While investigators gather documentation to determine what caused Continental flight 1404 to crash, the survivors are learning how to deal with what happened.

Almost immediately after the crash a team of mental health specialists met with the passengers at the airport or hospitals. Marlene Husson, the mental health lead with the Red Cross said they dealt intensely with 45 passengers.

“My life flashed before my eyes,” recalled one passenger when speaking with 7News.

Husson said trauma affects people in so many different ways and at different times.

“In a stress like this that is so intense, the cognitive part of our brain doesn't work as it should work every single day,” said Husson. “Our feelings and behaviors are what really respond because now we are into a survival mode.”

The mental health team listened to the passengers stories and tried to help them understand what was going to happen next and help them get whatever they needed, whether it be in contact with a relative or clothes.

“The more they tell it the more they remember how it really happened,” said Husson. “When they are first thinking about it, all they are really getting is very little pieces of what they remembered, because the mind isn't going to let them recall all of it at once, it is too much, it is too overwhelming.”

Recalling such a trauma can be difficult, especially if something from a person's past is triggered.

“Sometimes that is what can be a piece that overwhelms a person,” said Husson.

Husson said although it may be difficult, she believes everyone on board flight 1404 needs to deal with the accident or it could possibly effect their lives in a negative manner later on.

Husson and other staff flew with the passengers to Houston on the flight Continental Airlines chartered to get them home.

“You could feel, both on the bus and as it was taxing and taking-off ,” said Husson. “You could feel the stress; it was alive and present.”