How to carry out psychological assistance, listen to what the experts have to say

Yu Lu, on the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervision Commission, reported that "we should do a good job in handling the aftermath in an in-depth and meticulous manner, and redouble our efforts to start and end well." "We must continue to do a good job in sorting out and handing over the remains of the victims, so as to give dignity to the deceased and comfort to the families." "It is necessary to increase the efforts of helping and relieving the families of the victims and let the families of the victims feel at ease." On March 31, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a meeting to listen to the report on the emergency handling of the "3.21" China Eastern Airlines MU5735 aircraft flight accident, and made arrangements for the next step.

"As of March 30, a total of 695 family members of the victims have been resettled, 7,926 psychological assessments and 2,917 psychological counseling have been carried out." On the morning of March 31, the "3.21" China Eastern Airlines MU5735 Aircraft Flight Accident National Emergency Response Command held the tenth press conference to introduce the relevant situation of the resettlement of the families of the victims.

On the day of the accident, the assistance team composed of psychiatrists, psychotherapists, psychological counselors, social workers, etc., together with the relevant forces responsible for fire rescue and medical rescue work, arrived at the scene of the accident at the first time, and as the assistance work progressed, the number of people increased from 53 to 105 on the first night.

Different from general psychological counseling, psychological assistance after disasters puts forward higher requirements for helpers, and the objects of assistance they need are not limited to disaster survivors and families of victims, and the work they have to do is not as simple as comforting families to "want to open a point". How can timely and effective psychological assistance be provided to help the parties successfully survive the psychological crisis? How should the relevant groups of people do a good job of self-psychological adjustment? In response to these problems, the reporter recently interviewed a number of experts and scholars who are engaged in relevant research and have practical experience.

The psychological impact suffered the most from the families of the victims, and professional psychological intervention was particularly critical to intervene in the first time

After the occurrence of natural disasters, accident disasters, public health events, social security events, etc., the inherent balance of human psychology will be destroyed, imbalance will occur, and there will be a variety of stress responses including physiological, emotional, cognitive, behavioral and other aspects, and some people will even have light thoughts and behaviors. These stress responses can affect normal life, and if not adjusted in time, long-term savings can have more negative effects.

"The purpose of post-disaster psychological assistance is to help individuals or groups of people who are affected by disasters and are in a state of psychological crisis, to give appropriate and appropriate psychological help, so that they can get out of difficult situations, restore psychological balance, re-adapt to life, and reduce the possibility of post-traumatic stress disorder in the future." Professor Fan Fumin, Dean of the School of Clinical and Counseling Psychology of the Department of Psychology of Beijing Normal University and vice chairman of the Psychological Crisis Intervention Working Committee of the Chinese Psychological Association, introduced it.

In general, survivors of disasters, witnesses and families of victims are traumatized more severely, while the families of victims who have suffered psychological trauma due to the death of their relatives are usually the focus of psychological assistance. Due to their limited ability to regulate their own psychology, special groups such as the elderly and children should pay special attention.

"In the early stage of the disaster, the parties are in a state of psychological imbalance, and the initial intervention needs to focus on stabilizing the emotions of the parties, by giving positive attention, empathetic responses, inclusive space, etc., so that the parties feel safe, comfortable and relaxed, fully vent their emotions, and achieve a state of psychological balance." Zhong Mingming, associate professor and clinical practitioner of the School of Psychology of South China Normal University, said.

Pan Runde, director of the Clinical Psychology Department of Guangxi Brain Hospital and technical leader of the Guangxi Health Emergency Psychological Assistance Team, who served as the leader of the "3.21" China Eastern Airlines MU5735 aircraft flight accident psychological assistance team, and his colleagues carried out psychological intervention in this way. He told reporters that they provided psychological assistance and related services to the families of the victims through the model of "1 psychological professional + 1 government worker + 1 volunteer jointly docking 1 family".

"At present, most of the families of the victims have left Wuzhou, and many families have thanked our psychological assistance personnel and even brought us food. Some family members also exchanged WeChat with psychological support workers, hoping to maintain contact and continue to receive help. Pan Runde told reporters between work hours about the friendship that the aid team had formed with the families of the victims for more than a week.

Healing psychological wounds takes time, but we cannot passively hope for time, and the families of the victims, their relatives, friends, and psychological helpers must participate in it

Relevant studies have shown that psychological trauma generally goes through four different stages: emotional shock, numbness, denial and acceptance. Because each person's own circumstances are different and the social support they receive is different, the duration of psychological trauma caused by disasters varies. In addition, some people's reactions may occur as soon as the disaster occurs, or they may be delayed until weeks or even years after the disaster, or they may occur back and forth at different stages.

Disasters come suddenly, and the victims of disasters, the families of victims, etc. suffered a huge blow without psychological preparation, which caused them psychological trauma that is long-lasting, and for individuals, even for life, it is difficult to heal. Therefore, psychological assistance needs to be regarded as a long-term and lasting process, on the one hand, to believe that the power of time can gradually get most people out of the crisis; on the other hand, to ensure that psychological assistance is scientifically effective through comprehensive assessment and accurate intervention of the recipients of assistance.

Fan Fumin told reporters that psychological assistance is a work that needs to be carried out continuously, in the whole process of post-disaster psychological assistance, crisis intervention (psychological first aid) is the earliest work of psychological assistance, and post-disaster psychological assistance also includes grief counseling and trauma treatment.

A number of psychologists also mentioned that in the long process of psychological reconstruction, the relatives and friends around the parties are the main "helpers", who can listen, empathize and support them when they need it, and give them love and necessary help. In practice, psychologists will also inform relatives and friends of the precautions as soon as possible after the disaster occurs, and quickly train them to become psychological first responders. When negative thoughts are found in the person concerned, relatives and friends should actively assist or urge the person concerned to seek psychological treatment from a professional institution.

In addition, the use of group counseling for psychological assistance after a disaster can increase people's connection with each other, establish a new support system, help each other and care, hug the group to warm up, and can also effectively cope with difficulties and tide over difficulties together.

For those with more serious psychological problems and traumatic experiences, professional psychological intervention and treatment are necessary, but for most parties, learning to self-adjust is also essential. Zhong Mingming suggested that you can try to express your inner feelings through letters and other means, correct the either-or thinking mode, selectively pay attention to the positive aspects of life, develop some hobbies, actively participate in sports, establish supportive interpersonal relationships, and have the courage to open up and communicate.

Staff involved in ambulance should try to share emotions and adjust the pace of life in time

In addition to the families of the victims, front-line search and rescue personnel and command staff, such as doctors, nurses, PLA soldiers, police, cadres with corresponding responsibilities, and media workers involved in relevant reports, will also face heavy pressure, and their physical and mental impact will also be affected. Experts pointed out that this part of the population also needs to adapt quickly to stress conditions, ensure their physical and mental health, and better participate in the aftermath of disasters.

Some rescue workers may experience extreme tiredness, nightmares, dizziness, diarrhea, and other discomforts, and may also find themselves unable to concentrate, memory loss, and complex emotions such as numbness, anger, sadness, and guilt.

Wu Kankan, senior engineer of the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and secretary general and member of the Psychological Crisis Intervention Working Committee of the Chinese Psychological Association, has traveled to the scene of multiple accidents to participate in assistance work. He combines his own experience to support relief workers: he can share his feelings and disaster relief experience with other disaster relief partners in a timely manner; give more encouragement to himself and those around him, raise them to partners in time when there is difficulty, and accept help and support from others.

Wu Kankan also reminded rescue workers that after returning to normal life, they should adjust and adapt to the rhythm of life in time.

Pan Runde and his team also noticed this problem, he told reporters: "The next step, our work focus will shift to the people involved in the rescue work, and we are currently formulating a more scientific and detailed psychological assistance work plan for rescuers who have an emotional reaction, stationing psychological assistance personnel in the hotels where they stay, providing a 24-hour psychological assistance hotline and an online psychological self-help platform." ”

At the same time, the interviewed experts suggested that on the basis of promoting relevant academic exchanges and research, strengthening the construction of the crisis intervention expert database, and improving the response mechanism of crisis intervention services, we should pay more attention to the details of psychological crisis intervention quality, strengthen the training of crisis intervention professionals, promote the popularization of broader mental health knowledge, scientifically formulate intervention methods and implementation steps, keep the details in place, avoid secondary injuries, and minimize long-term psychological harm.

Editor: Wu Yuxuan

Proofreader: Yingnan Zhang