Trauma haunts tsunami survivors

Trauma haunts tsunami survivors

Michael Mathes, Agence France-Presse/Bangkok

Up to 90 percent of the millions affected by the Asian quake disaster are suffering mental trauma, conditions which could prompt a "second tsunami" unless support and treatment are given, experts said on Wednesday.

After alarms over post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the wake of the killer waves were sounded in early January, hundreds of healthcare professionals, academics and officials gathered in Bangkok from Wednesday for the first conference on mental health challenges after the tsunami.

"Based on prior experience from other mass disasters, we can expect that between 50 and 90 percent of the (affected) population will experience conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder and depression which, if untreated, may last for years," said conference head Jonathan Davidson, a professor at Duke University in U.S. state North Carolina.

While the need to address general health issues and reconstruct society were acute, Davidson said recovery cannot take place unless people recognize mental health consequences and provide appropriate care for resulting disorders.

The task is expected to take years, with many survivors experiencing persisting psychological symptoms. "But we must believe that recovery can be achieved and that resilience of the human spirit can reassert itself," he said.

Most tsunami survivors suffering PTSD had "reasonably severe symptoms that would be disruptive to their ability to carry on with life as before," he said.

Children were especially vulnerable and their needs must be addressed, experts said.

Somchai Chakrabhand, head of Thailand's department of mental health, said the anguish of those who narrowly escaped was made worse because many of them lost relatives, homes, jobs and possessions.

"All of these people need support urgently," Somchai told a press briefing.

"Without the necessary help to deal with this mental trauma and the issues surrounding the mental health fallout of the disaster, the long-term effects could be as devastating as the tsunami itself... a second tsunami."

Henry McKinnell, CEO of U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer which helped sponsor the conference, called the Asian tsunami "the disaster of our lifetime".

"It is now critically important to focus on the potential long-term psychological impact this disaster will have on people and communities across Asia," he said.

Pfizer says it has contributed US$56 million -- 45 million in Pfizer medicines and healthcare products and 11 million in cash -- to 35 organizations providing tsunami relief in the region.

Last week the World Health Organization said almost 500,000 tsunami survivors were facing mental health problems in Indonesia's hardest-hit Aceh province, with some 200,000 or more likely to require psychiatric care.

A potential sticking point is how to coordinate mental health treatment that would accommodate the cultural and religious differences of communities in the region.

Western therapy often invokes patients to speak out repeatedly about trauma in the belief that rehashing experiences can help people cope.

But Nongpanga Limsuwan, a professor of child psychiatry at Bangkok's Mahidol University, warned that such approaches may not be suitable in Asia.

"By rehashing details ... it opens the wounds again and again, and this will never heal."