What You Can Do Right Now to Support Wellbeing (Guidelines on Psychosocial Support for Helpers and Friends)

People in areas affected by tsunamis may be experiencing many different emotional and physical responses at this time. Some of these responses include confusion, fear, hopelessness, sleeplessness, crying, difficulty in eating, headaches, body aches, anxiety, and anger. They may be feeling helpless; some may be in a state of shock; others may be aggressive, mistrustful, feeling betrayed, despairing, feeling relieved or guilty that they are alive, sad that many others have died, and ashamed of how they might have reacted or behaved during the critical incidents. There may be some experiencing a sense of outrage, shaken religious faith, loss of confidence in themselves or others, or sense of having betrayed or been betrayed by others they trusted.

These are all normal reactions to extremely dangerous or stressful situations, or where people have felt helpless or overwhelmed. They do not mean that these people are traumatised, mentally disturbed or mentally ill. The majority of people will experience these reactions only for a short period of time; others may experience them for longer.

You may be able to support people get through these normal reactions and reduce further distress while meeting their basic and other practical needs by following the suggestions below.

DOs
* Do listen to people who share their stories, if necessary again and again.
* Do be friendly, compassionate and caring, even if people are angry or demanding.
* Do give practical help or assistance to people as and when required.
* Do help people to contact others either through post or making telephone calls on their behalf.
* Do engage people in meeting their own needs.
* Do find out where the government and non-government services are located and direct people to the appropriate services available in the area.
* Do understand the emotions of people who have suffered losses, and take them seriously. There is no right or wrong way for people to feel, given the horrific situation.
* Do give reliable information about what tsunamis are and how they occur. This will help people understand the situation.
* Do protect people from further harm, as they may be vulnerable to assault and abuse by those who are taking advantage of the chaotic situation.

DON’Ts
* Don’t force people to share their stories with you, especially very personal details. If they don’t want to talk much, do not disturb them.
* Don’t tell people what you think they should be feeling, thinking or doing.
* Don’t make promises about what you will do for them, if you are not sure about this.
* Don’t give simple reassurances to people, saying ‘everything will be ok’, or ‘at least you have survived’ or ‘others have suffered more than you’.
* Don’t tell people why you think they have suffered, especially giving reasons about their personal behaviours or beliefs.
* Don’t tell people what you think they should have or could have done, whilst in the critical situation, especially to save loved ones.
* Don’t criticise existing services and activities being carried out in these areas, especially in front of people who are in need of these services. Support the service providers to make the services better.
* Don’t separate surviving family members and relatives from one another, if possible, especially children.
* Don’t label people as traumatised.

Prepared by Psychosocial Support Programme and National Council for Mental Health, Sahanaya in collaboration with Dr. Jagath Bandara and Dr. Mahesh Rajasuriya from the College of Psychiatrists, Colombo. Please send in your comments and feedback to pspcp@eol.lk or sahanaya@panlanka.net.
01st January 2005