Providing Psychological Support To Disaster Victims 

June 3 is a day that keeps echoing in the minds of many Ghanaians particularly victims of the flood and fire disaster.  

It is heartwarming that the government and other benevolent organisations have acted with dispatch to respond to the situation and have provided for the temporary needs of the victims. 

It is hoped that all the support being sought in the name of the twin disaster will be well co-ordinated to benefit those who really need it.  

The Late Sir Cecil Jones Attuquayefio and Max Bristo’s charity matches are still fresh in our memories in terms of how much they got. 

One does not doubt the integrity of those soliciting support for the victims. 

It is important that lessons of the past will equally guide us in this moment of. There have been several calls for attitudinal change with regards to sanitation and building on water-ways. Government and other entities like the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and the National Petroleum Authority are taking steps to mitigate the effect of such disasters in the future. 

Some of the measures could be termed reactive and the plea is that sober heads should rule, in order not to worsen the plight of the victims of disaster. All these efforts are commendable but the big question is what happens to the psychological needs of the survivors?  

Victims of disasters suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders and need psychological counseling. The American Psychiatric Association in the year 2000 developed the Post Traumatic Stress Disaster diagnosis which focuses on areas such as having been exposed to a traumatic and fearful event, re-experiencing the traumatic event, usually in flashbacks or nightmares, avoidance of situations and stimuli that could reawaken the trauma.

In such situations people withdraw from others; as well as an increased level of arousal, sleep difficulties, irritability, and concentration problems.   

The involvement of Psychologists in the allocation of resources after a disaster by emergency managers could have calming effects on the victims and their relatives. 

While their physical recovery process is very essential, we cannot overlook the fact that they need to be given psychological care as well, in order to remove the trauma and shock that have been registered in their memories. This is why psychologists and psychiatrists are a necessary mix in the recovery process.  At this critical point in time, there should be conscious efforts to make use of the services of counselors, mental health experts and psychologists. 

Again, heads of religious movements should go beyond creating funds and visitations to deploying some counselors in their outfits to help meet the mental needs of survivors. While commending media houses for mobilizing funds for such victims, it will be prudent on their part not to show gory pictures and videos of disaster victims as part of advertisement to solicit for support. 

There could be an advertisement without such images or videos which will still appeal to the public as every Ghanaian is aware of the June 3 incident. People really want to get over the incident and constantly bringing the pictures back will not help in their recovery process.  

Ghanaians especially, the youth should desist from sharing such pictures and videos on social media. It is said that out of sight, out of mind. You may not know how a recipient of a video or picture is related to the incident. 

Sharing in their plight does not mean circulating pictures around. Let us respect the memory of those who died through the disaster and assuage the pains of the survivors and those who have lost their loved ones through responsible information dissemination.  

BY: LYDIA DARLINGTON FORDJOUR, NATIONAL SERVICE PERSON, GBC RADIO UPPER WEST,WA