On psychological reconstruction aid after Wenchuan earthquake

Earthquakes and other natural disasters are sudden and harmful. The disaster will end, but the psychological trauma it leaves behind will affect people's lives. Twenty-five percent of the survivors of the Tangshan earthquake suffered from mental disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and schizophrenia, which are difficult to cure. Psychological intervention after a disaster is a long way to go.

The essence of psychological crisis intervention

The psychological crisis intervention simply means that the interventioned person speaks out the catastrophic events, inner feelings and experiences experienced, vents his emotions, and reduces various fears, anxiety, guilt and other negative emotions brought about by the disaster, so that the parties can Restore normal life and physical and mental health as soon as possible.

In theory, the psychological intervention after the earthquake is as fast as possible. Try to intervene before the state of mind does not fall to the bottom, try to use the shortest possible time, let it return to the most normal state. In developed western countries, psychological crisis intervention is an important part of the emergency assistance system. Once the external environment is safe and stable, the psychological professionals immediately conduct professional screening and diagnosis, and immediately intervene in response to the disaster victims' varying degrees of impact, promptly help him to express his inner experience, and vent his negative emotions. The more timely the intervention, the faster the survivors will recover psychologically and the worse the later effect.

An important principle of psychological intervention is "only help, not add to the chaos." For example, at the first time when a disaster occurs, professional workers can understand the psychological status of the community or individual in helping to send relief supplies or other more urgent activities. Psychological crisis interventions must be targeted to physical assistance to the survivors before they can be targeted.

Crisis psychological intervention objects and methods

The people most in need of psychological intervention after the earthquake are the ones most affected by various unfavorable factors. Usually the first group we save is the survivors, that is, those who have been directly injured but have survived, and the families of those who died are the families. The survivors' post-disaster attitude will show fear, helplessness, fear, sadness, and a very important emotion, which is unreasonable self-criticism. For example, in the Pu'er earthquake, two little girls said: "When I ran over, my mother was pressed under the wall. Our two were too small. How could we lift the wall? I hate myself. If I can work harder, my mom can be rescued.” After Sharon flooded, a ten-year-old child who lost his partner told me: “I’m always walking around his house. We are always playing together, we are at the same table, when the flood came I did not hold him, I was not washed away, he was washed away, his parents saw me will blame me.I especially think Playing with him, I often dreamed that he would play with me.” This kind of self-criticism and guilty psychology is unreasonable, but it is also a very common emotional experience for survivors. They need to be professional. With help, get rid of this mentality as soon as possible.

On May 12th, Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province experienced an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale. Nearly half of China’s earthquakes have been devastating and have caused huge disasters. The psychological trauma left by people is long-term; the psychological crisis intervention was initiated to allow the parties to return to normal as soon as possible. Life and physical and mental health are imminent and long-term. Here I describe the theoretical knowledge of psychological crisis intervention from two aspects.

First, the theoretical basis of psychological crisis intervention

(1) Lindemann's Theory This theory emphasizes that in the face of intense grief, a person should not be excessively indulged in the pain of his heart, but should let himself feel pain, vent emotions, face the reality, and experience painful work, otherwise it is prone to bad as a result of. What is painful work? To grieve for the lost loved ones, to experience pain in the loss of loved ones' grief, to accept the reality of losing loved ones, and to adjust life in the context of losing loved ones.

(2) Thetester Theory From the point of view of the individual's response to stress, Teest believes that the response of healthy individuals to severe stress events depends on the interaction of personality, acute stress and social environment. This theory is generally applicable to crisis interventions such as disasters, rape, sudden death of a loved one, or learning about a terminal illness.

(3) Kapalan's Emotional Crisis Model Kaplan believes that individuals and the environment are generally in a dynamic state of fragmentation. When they face difficulties or cannot cope with solving problems, they often have tension and anxiety. Emotional problems such as depression, depression, and pessimism lead to psychological imbalances, and whether this balance can be restored depends on the individual's level of understanding of stressful events, social support, and coping skills.

(4) Oglaeri and McSquare's theory The theory emphasizes the influence of the balance factor in the crisis intervention. The balance factor refers to the factors that can help him restore to the original equilibrium state when the individual faces pressure or dangerous events, mainly including: Personal experience of stressful events, available social support systems, and personal coping capacity.

(5) Belkin's Crisis Intervention Model Belkin proposed three basic types of crisis intervention: balance mode, cognitive mode, and mental transition mode.平衡 Balanced mode means that individuals in a crisis are in a state of psychological or emotional imbalance, and the purpose of crisis intervention is to help them regain a pre-crisis balance. The cognitive model believes that the crisis was not caused by the event itself, but by the misperception of the event and the event's situation. Therefore, this model emphasizes the change of the parties' way of thinking, especially the irrational components in the event cognition and their one-sided and distorted views. The psychosocial transition model believes that the crisis is related to the individual's internal and external difficulties (ie, psychological, social, and environmental). In the process of individual growth, genetic factors, social environment, and social influence will intertwine and work together.

II. Definition of psychological crisis intervention The psychological crisis intervention refers to the timely provision of appropriate psychological assistance to individuals in a state of psychological crisis so that they can get rid of difficulties as soon as possible. The psychological crisis refers to sudden changes in the living conditions caused by severe disasters, major life events, or mental stress. In particular, difficulties that cannot be overcome with the existing living conditions and experience have emerged, causing the parties to suffer pain and anxiety. , often accompanied by despair, insensitivity, anxiety, and autonomic and behavioral disorders. The elements that make up the crisis include:

1. There are major psychological stress events. 

2, causing acute emotional distress (such as anxiety, depression, irritability) 认知 cognitive changes (such as difficulty in concentration, memory loss, etc.), physical discomfort (such as insomnia, dizziness, loss of appetite, back pain, etc.) and behavior Change (conventional changes in life, such as morning exercises). 

3. The parties could not cope temporarily with the means to solve the problem.