OPINION | Luisina Daives, Amadem psychologist
Emergency situations caused by natural disasters impact the mental and physical health of individuals and families, generating intense emotional reactions and even critical cases such as post-traumatic stress, anxiety disorders, depression, psychotic crises and even suicides. Therefore, it is extremely important and crucial to receive adequate psychological care, since their interpersonal relationships, family structure and work performance will be seriously affected.
Disaster victims often experience intense emotional reactions based on their lived experience, and in critical situations they face grief over the loss of loved ones, property, and economic losses, which go beyond what we can humanly handle. All of this creates a greater susceptibility to developing post-traumatic stress and mental illness. After an emergency or disaster, the recovery time for survivors varies, from days to weeks to months, and will depend on the degree of impact of the losses experienced.
Each person will have their own recovery process, because they will also have their own problem-solving tools. The important thing is that they receive timely care. It is essential to support family members or people, through responsible listening with empathetic messages, with optimism, creating spaces for dialogue at home, allowing the free expression of what happened and of feelings, thoughts and memories, being tolerant and understanding. Let's learn to listen, sometimes there is no need to say anything, just listen.
