Balinese need time for trauma healing

Balinese need time for trauma healing

I Wayan Juniartha
The Jakarta Post
Kuta, Bali

Dewa Darnesta ha never been able to sleep well since that
terrible night of Oct. 12, when a powerful explosion destroyed
the crowded Sari Club on Jl. Legian, Kuta.

In fact, he had four sleepless days after the explosion.

"An extreme feeling of fear overpowered me for days after the
blast. Sometimes, I still can hear the deafening explosion and
the fearful scenes of wounded victims screaming for help or
frantically trying to escape the fire, come back to my mind. It
really tortures me," he said.

The experience was so haunting that a week after the blast
Dewa still could not muster the courage to sleep alone in his
house, which was located just some 50 meters from ground zero.
He, and nine members of his family, have been slept together in
one room since the explosion.

Dewa was among some 120 locals who display the Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms, according to a recent survey
conducted by Udayana University's School of Medicine, Denpasar.

To gather information, some 150 undergraduate medical students
distributed questionnaires and interviewed over 300 locals, who
live near the blast site.

The results were analyzed by post-graduate psychiatry
students.

"The initial result shows that 40 percent of the respondents
have had PTSD symptoms. We believe the actual numbers is bigger
than that since we have not been able to interview all the
affected locals because some live in the area earmarked as
"restricted"; some have not returned since they fled on the
terrible night and some refused to be interviewed," said the
survey's coordinator, Dr Luh Ketut Suryani.

PTSD was generally characterized by sleep disorder, anxiety,
extreme fear, mental fatigue, and recurrent "flash-back" of the
traumatic incident. The acute case of PTSD may impair one's
ability to comprehend reality and to establish relationship with
others.

Suryani, Bali's most distinguished psychiatrist, has urged the
local administration to give serious attention to the physical
and mental health of the affected locals.

"The explosion was so powerful it may cause hearing problem
for the locals living in immediate neighborhood. Moreover, the
devastation it caused, including more than 100 mutilated bodies,
will inflict a deep trauma on the locals," she stressed.

Led by the school's deputy dean Wirakusuma, some 30 Ear, Nose,
and Throat (ENT) specialists and 30 psychiatrists had established
two free medical service posts in Kuta.

Suryani has spearheaded the efforts to heal locals' trauma.
Suryani has treated at least 19 locals and gave mass-therapy to
some 30 members of Kuta's civilian guards.

Combining the western's psychiatric method of regressive
hypnosis, and her own psycho-social spirit meditation, Suryani
guided these people during their journey back into the fateful
night of Oct. 12.

"Basically, I hypnotize them, asked them to mentally go back
to that night, motivate them to overcome their fear, anger, or
grief, and then have them release their emotional burden by
screaming or crying. After that I lead them into various steps of
relaxation meditation to revitalize their energy," Suryani told.

"The common problem is that all their life the Balinese have
been taught to harness their emotion. So sometimes it's very
difficult to teach them to release their emotion. Moreover, it
also prevents some people, who are suffering from PTSD, to openly
express their trauma," she said.

During the therapy some of the participants did cry, some even
screamed and moved uncontrollably, an apparent sign of the amount
of terror and trauma. In the end, most of them admitted that they
felt relieved and "lighter" after the therapy.

"I fell sound asleep during the meditation, and woke up much
fresher and stronger than before. It's good. I am not afraid
anymore," the head of Kuta district, Subawa, who had sleep
disorder, said.