OPINION> Commentary
Healing their battered souls
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-05-20 07:28

Psychological doctors are needed to help victims cure the hurts in their minds, says an article in People's Daily. The following is an excerpt:

In every quake-struck region, Premier Wen Jiabao kept encouraging the victims. "If the survivors can live a happy life, it is the best way to comfort those dead," said Wen. "We can repair and rebuild those houses that were struck down by the quake. As long as the lives can be saved, we are sure to overcome the difficulties and win the campaign over this massive disaster."

The sudden earthquake not only incurred heavy physical losses for the people in the quake-struck areas, but also seriously hurt them psychologically. The woes over the loss of their family members, relatives and friends, the worries about the damage of their houses, and the memory of the cruelty of the earthquake all linger in their minds. As the experts with the World Health Organization pointed out, psychological crises can bring deeper and more lasting harm to the people than any other disaster. The psychological problem plagued the children in the tsunami-hit areas right after the disaster occurred in Indonesia. About 10 percent of the survivors contracted the post-traumatic stress disorder after the Tangshan earthquake in 1976.

When facing the disaster, we need doctors who can offer psychological treatment. They can play an active role in the psychological rescue for the quake victims and try their best to reduce their sadness. By doing this, they can prevent those victims from contracting long-term psychological problems. The psychological rescue can also help rescuers stabilize their minds and recover from the psychological harms and make them work more efficiently in the rescue job.

The timely offer of psychological rescue for disaster victims has become an important part of disaster relief. After the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US, a great many psychiatrists and psychological consultants conducted psychological rescue for survivors on the spot. In 2006, When Zhejiang province suffered the tornado, experts formed a psychological rescue team and launched a half-month treatment for victims. Besides, in many other incidents such as SARS and the earthquake in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, quite a lot of psychological experts participated in the rescue.

We are glad to see that the hospitals in Chengdu, Sichuan province, quickly kicked off the moves on psychological intervention soon after the earthquake struck last Monday. A psychological rescue team was established to start the psychological treatment for those injured and their relatives. On May 14, the first batch of medicare rescue team, staffed with psychiatrists, flew to the quake-struck regions. The Ministry of Health is right now selecting psychological experts from across the country to form a medicare team.

The disaster rescue is a campaign against time and also a long-term psychological battle. We believe that with the dispatching of more psychological teams, the victims are certain to cast aside the psychological shadow to be able to rebuild their homes and lives.

(China Daily 05/20/2008 page10)