psychologists help mexico deal with double trauma
Last Updated : GMT 05:17:37
Emiratesvoice, emirates voice
Emiratesvoice, emirates voice
Last Updated : GMT 05:17:37
Emiratesvoice, emirates voice

Of quake

Psychologists help Mexico deal with double trauma

Emiratesvoice, emirates voice

Emiratesvoice, emirates voice Psychologists help Mexico deal with double trauma

Whether wearing white lab coats
Mexico City - AFP

Whether wearing white lab coats, red rescue worker vests or dressed as clowns, the psychologists standing by as Mexico picks through the rubble of this week's earthquakes are ready to help a shaken nation deal with its trauma.

Whole brigades of volunteer psychologists have deployed to the collapsed buildings in Mexico City where anguished families are clinging to the fading hope that their loved ones are alive inside.

Exhausted rescuers are still working around the clock to untangle the wreckage, despite the fact that the crucial 72-hour window for finding survivors from Tuesday's quake has closed.

"The families still have hope, but we psychologists are starting to prepare ourselves to counsel them in the context of mourning," said Penelope Exzacarias at a collapsed office building in Mexico City's trendy Roma neighborhood.

Wearing a red vest marked with the word "Psychologist," Exzacarias was on hand to support victims' families -- mainly by listening.

"With every passing minute, hope is diminishing for them. It's a very painful moment," she told AFP.

- 'The trauma comes after' -

The psychologists are also on hand to help the thousands of rescue workers, many of them volunteers, who have been grappling with the rubble for days
The psychologists are also on hand to help the thousands of rescue workers, many of them volunteers, who have been grappling with the rubble since Tuesday.

"It's hard to work non-stop for so long and to see a dead body, even if you're used to it," said Lorena Villalpando, another psychologist at the scene wearing a red vest and orange helmet declaring her profession.

Mexico's trauma is all the greater because the tragedy struck on the anniversary of the worst earthquake in its history, which killed more than 10,000 people in 1985.

Even for people not directly affected by the destruction in this sprawling city of 20 million people, there can be lasting trauma, said Alan Schejtman Deutsch of the Mexican Psychoanalytical Association, who is coordinating the brigades of volunteer psychologists.

"Right now, people are very active, trying to get (victims) out, to clear the rubble, but experience shows that post-traumatic stress hits after several days or weeks," he said.

- Children at risk -

Therapists dressed as clowns have taken to the streets of Mexico City to both entertain children and inform their parents about the importance of dealing with possible trauma
A specialist clinic in the nearby neighborhood of Condesa was signing up volunteer psychologists to counsel residents of the hard-hit district.

The most common symptoms of PTSD they were seeing: "constantly reliving the moment of trauma in your mind, a high level of anxiety, trouble sleeping, lack of appetite," said Schejtman.

Children are at risk too, he emphasized.

"Children actually suffer much worse because they assimilate all this information in a completely different way. They don't really understand what's happening... and death is a subject they understand even less," he said.

In response, therapists dressed as clowns have taken to the streets of Mexico City to both entertain children and inform their parents about the importance of dealing with possible trauma.

- Mother and daughter -

Marcela Cardoso Miranda was seven years old when the 1985 earthquake hit.

Thirty-two years on, she relived the trauma as a parent, crossing the city in search of her daughter, age seven herself.

"A lot of us lived through '85, and because of that experience, today, memories of our loss, whether direct or indirect, material or physical, are surging back to the surface," said Cardoso, herself a psychologist volunteering at the Condesa clinic.

"We're living in a climate of stress, depression, uncertainty, and even if the city seems to be returning to normal in some places, the reality is that there is a collective feeling of loss, that there's been a disaster."

But that sense of loss has also given rise to remarkable solidarity.

"We have been overwhelmed by this outpouring of people helping each other, something we don't manage to do the rest of the time," Cardoso said.

Source: AFP

 

 

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

psychologists help mexico deal with double trauma psychologists help mexico deal with double trauma

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

psychologists help mexico deal with double trauma psychologists help mexico deal with double trauma

 



GMT 09:54 2018 Wednesday ,24 January

'Friendly and kind' N. Korean skaters

GMT 09:36 2017 Thursday ,07 December

Heidy Karam’s contract to present talk show close

GMT 10:50 2012 Friday ,20 January

Dusty weather expected in UAE on Friday

GMT 09:35 2018 Saturday ,13 January

New Zealand bat first in third ODI against Pakistan

GMT 10:48 2017 Saturday ,23 December

Meryl Streep's brand under threat

GMT 06:53 2017 Thursday ,11 May

17th Doha Forum To Begin Sunday

GMT 10:30 2017 Thursday ,23 November

Reports underline proliferation of weapons in Arab world

GMT 07:46 2017 Monday ,30 October

Catch it early, treat it early and move on

GMT 08:05 2015 Tuesday ,17 February

Conan O'Brien is first late night host to film in Cuba

GMT 16:17 2018 Thursday ,30 August

Five Saudi women pilots granted GACA licences

GMT 06:30 2018 Tuesday ,23 January

Knee surgery delays Pocock's return to Super Rugby

GMT 09:52 2018 Sunday ,21 January

American Coleman breaks 60m indoor world record

GMT 17:20 2018 Tuesday ,16 January

Joe Root lines up for his first IPL auction

GMT 09:46 2017 Monday ,30 January

Results of German first-division soccer league

GMT 13:14 2017 Wednesday ,03 May

Ericsson and Etisalat conduct 5G

GMT 14:00 2018 Saturday ,13 January

Qatar, UAE clash over alleged airspace violation

GMT 07:27 2018 Saturday ,13 January

Trump 'desperate' to undermine nuclear
Emiratesvoice, emirates voice
 
 Emirates Voice Facebook,emirates voice facebook  Emirates Voice Twitter,emirates voice twitter Emirates Voice Rss,emirates voice rss  Emirates Voice Youtube,emirates voice youtube  Emirates Voice Youtube,emirates voice youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

emiratesvoieen emiratesvoiceen emiratesvoiceen emiratesvoiceen
emiratesvoice emiratesvoice emiratesvoice
emiratesvoice
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
emiratesvoice, Emiratesvoice, Emiratesvoice