Thursday, Dec 30, 2004
Thursday, Dec 30, 2004 |
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Chennai
By Dhanya Parthasarathy
CHENNAI, DEC. 29. The Germans sent psychologists on board rescue flights to attend to traumatised tourists who holidayed in Sri Lanka. Here in Chennai, social work students spent the last couple of days, wrapping food packets and collecting relief. "We need counsellors and psychologists in our medical camps," says E. Rabindranath, chairman of the disaster management committee of the Indian Medical Association. He suggests that mental health professionals team up with doctors and help survivors of Sunday's tragedy cope. While medical aid and food is reaching the survivors, there is precious little psychological help coming, say volunteers working with displaced people.
Fear psychosis
Dr. Rabindranath is also worried about the fear psychosis that television is creating by repeatedly showing images of death and destruction. "Is it really necessary to show the gory images over and over again? People are watching these images with horrified fascination. "The media should run informative programmes and organise helpers and helplines instead of just reporting the helplessness," says N. Rangarajan, a psychiatrist at Malar Hospitals. "The people who are directly affected are simultaneously going through horror, panic, relief at having survived. In a few months, they may still suffer from a post-traumatic stress disorder, which might give them nightmares for years and hamper their lives," says the psychiatrist. He recommends that the survivors get involved in helping other people. "That would be cathartic. Even for those who have lost loved ones. They would have a feeling of doing something and being worthwhile. Talking, crying, giving vent to emotions... that is crucial now," he says. "If they can form some groups among themselves to cope — that would help too," he adds.
`Set up hotline'
Clinical psychologist Sangeetha Madhu recommends setting up a hotline for crisis intervention. "This way people can talk about their anxieties, which will prove cathartic." Some students of social work who went to Mahabalipuram to counsel survivors found they had no answers to the practical questions the helpless fisherfolk had: "What about money for my fishing nets? It will take me three months to weave a new one — what do I do until then? I want to be resettled in the same place — is it possible?" The psychological teams that go to counsel the survivors need orientation on what survivors need to do about everyday problems like lost ration cards, says psychologist Aruna Balachandra, a lecturer at JBAS Women's College. "Disaster management has not matured here. We need to take cues on how developed countries handle such calamities," adds Dr. Rabindranath.
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