Psychologists await major task in despairing Philippines

As the extent of destruction in the Philippines becomes clearer, post-disaster specialists are warning that emotional scars, not immediately visible in the landscape or on the debris-ravaged bodies of survivors, may also need urgent attention.

Major relief organizations have sent support to the area and pledged to send more help in the days to come as the country attempts to cope with the impact of one of the worst typhoons to hit the archipelago. Thousands of people have died in the disaster, with more than half a million survivors displaced by the storm.

But as aid groups scramble to send food and money to disaster-struck areas to restore the country, psychological assistance for the thousands of people who have lost their homes and relatives are equally essential to their recovery, experts say.

"Nowadays it is becoming more and more important because it's part of what people need," Giovanni Pintaldi, a mental-health specialist at Doctors Without Borders (DWB), told Al Jazeera.

"In the general population we can expect that some of the people who have been affected will recover, but (a certain) percentage of people can go through a more chronic development of symptoms (that) can lead to, for example, post-traumatic stress disorder," he said.

Nightmares, flashbacks and intense anxiety are among the most common signs of trauma, he added.

Pintaldi is sending one psychologist to the field Tuesday, along with three doctors who will be joined by 50 more staffers to help alleviate medical emergencies in the wake of the disaster. A second mental-health worker is expected to depart for Tacloban later this week, he said.

The method proved useful in Haiti, where Pintaldo worked as a psychologist shortly after a major earthquake left much of the country in ruins and more than 1.5 million people without a home. He said that instead of returning for multiple counseling sessions, many people showed up only once to his meetings, seeking relief from their most pressing problems and stressing the first-aid nature of the help.

"I think this is why we provide psychological first aid," Pintaldo said. It is a "one-session approach to support people." Anti-tetanus shots against the risks of cuts and bruises from scouring through trash and debris, as well as a minimum of food, water and shelter help survivors get through the first days. Afterward, DWB trains local aid workers to assist the population with psychological needs, he said.

Major aid agencies have learned from past disaster recoveries, and many have programs in place for caring for the mental well-being of survivors

Psychological first aid is taught at every chapter of the American Red Cross and was useful for victims' recoveries after natural disasters in the U.S. like hurricanes Katrina and Sandy.

Valerie Cole, a clinical psychologist at the American Red Cross and a former head of New York's disaster mental-health program, told Al Jazeera that helping people cope with the fear of homelessness is an important part of disaster mental-health assistance. After Sandy, thousands of people lost their homes, and some are still living in hotels and temporary shelters.

"Losing your home means you have lost your sense of security and safety," Cole said. "And for many people, the financial implications of losing a home are immense."

But sometimes the greatest losses are personal possessions without material value, like photo albums swallowed by nature's chaos. "It's the personal stuff that you can never get back," she said.

As a first step in such psychological help, listening to victims' stories is crucial to "help them recover that sense of safety" and assess their immediate needs, Cole said.

Reuniting survivors with children and other loved ones is also a major part of the recovery process.

In the Philippines, the American Red Cross has activated its family-tracing services — a cornerstone of the mental-health program and a factor that helps people recover more easily, Cole said. "Social support, being around their loved one," helps people get back on their feet. The service includes locating missing loved ones, exchanging family messages and securing travel documents.

Then, she said, "As time goes on, (people) start realizing what they've lost. (Some) start getting depressed at that point." Others get angry, discouraged — or even hopeful. "It usually takes longer than people expect to go back to normal."

As final steps for victims, aid workers try "to put their losses in perspectives and help them make plans," she said, like, "How are we going to get out of the shelter?"

In 2011, after a tornado leveled the town of Joplin, Mo., and killed 161 people, she remembers the sense of hopelessness that pervaded the area.

"Every time I was driving through, I found myself crying. It was like being in a war zone."

With The Associated Press