Survivors of the Uttarakhand disaster, even those without major injuries, are beginning to show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) leading to anxiety and overwhelming of emotional caused because of re-experiencing the trauma again and again.
“I keep getting upsetting memories of those horrible three nights when I didn’t know whether my parents and I would survive. I keep trembling and feel like it is all happening again and again,” said Santa Cruz resident Radhika Mody, 23, who has suffered several cuts and bruises on her feet as her group kept climbing right to the top of hillocks in the hope that they would be spotted by choppers.
The wounds her 43-year-old diabetic father Shashikant Mody suffered has left the family concerned. “He keeps complaining of pounding in the chest, breathlessness, nausea and bodyache,” she says, mopping the sweat off her father’s forehead. “You know I have begun to sleep with both my parents beside me,” says Radhika, “I fear I will wake up and find myself alone.”
In Thane, at the Sawants’, several clotheslines in the bedroom and window are thick with bed-sheets and clothes making the room dark. Divyesh Sawant, puts on the lights and smiles: “Because of all the drying to do it has become necessary to keep the lights on through the day,” says the 32-year-old employee of a local cooperative bank who had gone to Gangotri with friends.
“We were on our way to Gangotri when the rains and landslides hit. If it hadn’t been for some policemen who persuaded us to return to Brahmakanan, I don’t know what would have happened. None of the Sangli and Pune groups who went ahead against our advice have been found,” he says extremely conscious of the way the china keeps clinking despite his attempts to steady his hand while sipping tea.
“I really don’t know how I will go back to work.” Sawant has a superficial elbow injury from a slip but he is more worried about his 10-year-old son. “Malhar is very attached to me and this was the first time that I went anywhere without him. Whether it’s waking him up, readying him for school or putting him to bed, he insists that I do it,” says out the father, patting his son who is sleeping on a mat in the hall clutching him, his head in his father’s lap.
This is also necessary since the mattress has been stood against the bedroom wall to dry. “He has never wet the bed since he was three, but when he saw how anxious my family were and the scenes on TV he would cry quite a lot and began bed wetting,” he told dna. “We plan to take him to the doctor today (Tuesday).”
Counselling psychologist Deepak Kashyap explains how PTSD needs professional help. “Counselling can be particularly helpful, especially with children,” he says. “Helping the person accept the inevitability of the event and helping him understand how patience (with what they are going through), perseverance (with the intervention protocol) and passionate compassion (being able to work out the survivor’s guilt) can play an important role and be very helpful.”
Kashyap adds, “ It’s important that the patient is taken to a counsellor or a psychiatrist after the first signs show.”
Helpline for trauma-hit Uttarakhand survivors
A 24x7 free helpline for counselling trauma-hit Uttarakhand flood survivors has been launched. ‘Crisis Intervention Helpline’ on number 9910135205, managed by Delhi Psychiatric Centre (DPC) and Cosmos Institute of Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences, will help victims overcome psychological trauma, depression, insomnia and other sleep disorders.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}