The earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria has taken a psychological toll on survivors. NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly speaks with trauma psychologist Dr. Alexandra Chen concerning the earthquake’s psychological impression.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
According to the United Nations, the loss of life toll from final month’s earthquake in Turkey and Syria has now surpassed 50,000 – 50,000. And then you definately consider how many individuals nonetheless alive are impacted by that quantity – the households and pals grieving, the folks left with no dwelling or the psychological toll on first responders who rushed in to assist. Well, to speak concerning the psychological impression of the earthquake, we’re joined by Dr. Alexandra Chen. She is a trauma psychologist. She’s been working with Syrians for the final decade, together with those that fled Syria’s civil warfare. Dr. Chen, welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
ALEXANDRA CHEN: Thank you, Mary Louise.
KELLY: Tell me what you are listening to out of your sufferers within the area who’ve been impacted by the earthquake. How are they coping? What sort of issues are they telling you?
CHEN: So the shock of experiencing the earthquake – for a few of them, they weren’t conscious at first what it was and had been afraid that it could be one thing else, an assault or a bomb, and has even, over the past three weeks, not fully worn off and never solely as a result of there have been a number of quakes and aftershocks since, but additionally due to the traumatic recollections that the tremors and dropping their properties and being displaced and the expertise of getting to sleep on the streets and be very insecure has triggered.
KELLY: Hmm. So an earthquake is simply the newest within the string of compounding traumas that a few of your sufferers have skilled?
CHEN: Yes, sadly. As considered one of them described to me, it is like he has been in a relentless storm. And he was an unaccompanied refugee minor himself on the age of 15, 10 years in the past, and fled from Syria to Turkey on his personal – someway made it and survived. But he stated that he has by no means felt a second the place he isn’t within the storm.
KELLY: Oh.
Give me just a little bit extra details about simply a few of the sensible issues that you just’re saying to assist folks get by means of this instant second of trauma earlier than they will even start to start out fascinated with therapeutic. I imply, take me into that dialog.
CHEN: Sure. We usually counsel mother and father to provide kids totally different duties and duties. It helps them to really feel much less helpless and to really feel just a little bit extra concerned in methods which can be optimistic. And so even, you recognize, in case you assigned a baby – their job is to maintain all of the telephones and guarantee that they’re charged. That little job in emergency setting is an important one, they usually can really feel a little bit of delight and focus as an alternative of simply being overwhelmed by the chaos.
We additionally give quite a lot of – say – assist when it comes to the practicalities of being a dad or mum in these settings. I’ll offer you an instance. So with quite a lot of them who’ve been, and proceed to be, sleeping – sadly – on the streets, their circumstances are fairly harmful, and there have been stories of kid trafficking as properly. So the mother and father are very nervous, clearly, and nobody has actually been in a position to sleep. So one of many sensible issues we are saying to folks is take turns sleeping.
KELLY: I perceive you additionally see sufferers who’re front-line employees…
CHEN: Yes.
KELLY: …You know, who raced in, who’re coping with trauma of a unique kind. What sort of recommendation can you give them?
CHEN: So in these settings, our recommendation for front-line employees are, you recognize, as we at all times say, you can not pull from an empty cup. The different is discovering small methods. You know, I ship them five-minute meditations – usually these are issues that we have practiced collectively in session – in addition to a reminder of re-centering and having the ability to discover their power in a second that – the place every little thing feels very uncontrolled after which additionally being, I believe, forgiving of themselves in moments the place – there’s so lots of them will say, what if? Well, you recognize, I heard a voice there underneath the rubble, however I wasn’t positive. And I did not spotlight it as a precedence, and, had we gotten there quick, you recognize, may we now have saved extra folks? There’s quite a lot of self-doubt in these moments. And typically, you recognize, they snap at one another as a result of they’re so burdened and annoyed and under-slept. So I believe simply kindness with each other offers a bit of therapeutic in a really troublesome time, totally.
KELLY: Dr. Alexandra Chen is a trauma psychologist primarily based in London, who travels to see sufferers in Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon. Thank you a lot in your time and in your work.
CHEN: Thank you a lot. I respect it.
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