prof. dr. Nesrin Dilbaz: “Earthquake victims need empathy”
Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nesrin Dilbaz evaluated the traumas and coping methods after the earthquake. Noting that the feeling of confidence is the most lost feeling in major disasters such as earthquakes, explains Prof Dr Nesrin Dilbaz said: “As human beings, we have lost our sense of confidence. Earthquake survivors experienced intense horror, fear and panic. This is the first group. As a second group, we have a group that has lost their relatives, even though nothing happened to them, and who have very serious losses. They are now in mourning. Some of them have not yet reached their bodies, they have not yet received their bodies. Likewise, they experience hopelessness and helplessness along with a sense of loss.” said.
We have to take mental health very seriously.
Expressing the need to address the mental states of earthquake victims in the current period, Prof. Dr. Nesrin Dilbaz said: “Our psychosocial interventions are very important because we have a very serious group. It is stated that 12.5 million people are mentioned as affected by the earthquake, and their relatives were affected by this number. At this time, our doctors are working emergency, orthopedics, general surgery and all provinces with great commitment. We see the wreckage here, but we have serious heroes in the background and we have to take our mental health very seriously. If we don’t think about this, our children, young people and people will lose their place. The spiritual consequences of this can be very serious, people have lost their identity in a sense.” said.
Our wounds will heal, but scars will remain
Expressing that the psychological effects of the earthquake will become visible after a while, Prof. Dr. Nesrin Dilbaz said: ‘We are all injured. I hope everyone gets through it, that’s all we’re all hoping for right now but how long will it take. I call it an injury. We’ve all been hurt, our wounds will heal, but the scars will remain. When we look at the scars of those wounds, we all need to secure our future a little bit more, we need to see it. said.
We must live our mourning
Expressing that the mourning period should be lived, Prof Dr Nesrin Dilbaz said: “We recommend that children over 10 years old attend the funeral so that they can see the truth. But they will be with those they love and feel safe with. Those ceremonies are our culture and traditions. We can get through this. We must experience our grief in our own way. Our mawlid is read, our 7 prayers, 40 of us 51… We must ensure our solidarity together and ensure that we ceremoniously move our loved ones we have lost so that we can accept, grieve and cope with their deaths. ” said.
Reexperiencing or avoidance occurs
prof. Dr. Nesrin Dilbaz said: “The first is the situation called re-experiencing, that is, they start experiencing that trauma again in their mind. It starts with dreaming or avoiding. Avoidance means they run away from life. They don’t go into the bathroom: ‘If I get caught in the bathroom and get stuck under the rubble. When I am in that state, that is, when I somehow die naked, their fears begin. They don’t go into the houses, they don’t buy anything, that’s avoidance.” said.
The fury of fear unfolds
prof. Dr Nesrin Dilbaz said: “Help did not come at the same time as the earthquake and this weakened the sense of confidence. Shaking people’s trust means anger, there is social anger, we have to be very empathetic. Actually, it is the anger of fear. People get angry because they are afraid, we need to be understanding and empathetic here, we shouldn’t show anger and anger towards them. We must accept it and welcome it with love. Because right now they have a very serious trauma.” said.
Psychosocial interventions must take place
Noting that after a few months, not only post-traumatic stress disorder but also all diseases will become visible in the psychiatric literature, after many things have been settled, Prof. Dr. Nesrin Dilbaz said: “If we cannot adequately conduct psychosocial interventions, we will with very serious problems are faced such as depression and anxiety. Sufficient staff have been trained, they are currently waiting for their service. After the acute period we are in, there are teams in every province ready to take on this task. Organization is very important here.” said.
They need to experience a sense of integrity and trust again.
prof. Dr. Nesrin Dilbaz said: “What is good for us is to feel that we love each other and that we are together. People helped people they didn’t know, they cried, they got sad. This is a very important feeling, both for the crying person and for the counselor. But we also have to be careful there. In terms of mental trauma, we’ve talked about a week, we’ll talk about a month, we’ll talk about six months, we’ll talk about two years. Likewise for help. We must proclaim that we support them spiritually by being very well organized, not just by rhetoric, but by organizing. They need to experience a sense of integrity again, a sense of trust.” said.
They need empathy the most
Noting that earthquake victims need empathy the most, Prof Dr Nesrin Dilbaz said: “First of all, we have to show them that we understand their pain, we have to say that. We must tell them how much they suffered and how sad they felt: you experienced the negative consequences of the earthquake. Now that life is starting to return to normal, it is normal to be more or less spiritually influenced. Not only you, but everyone in the earthquake zone experienced this. Everyone was scared. It was a feeling of fear rather than ordinary fear. Most people, like you, felt helpless.
These words should never be spoken!
What we should never say are words like “It’s over, you’re alive, look.” These words actually make people feel more guilty. They feel worse or phrases like ‘Okay, everything will pass’, ‘You will start all over again’. During this period, one does not think about starting again. They try to survive, they try to exist, they starve, but they don’t feel their hunger. That’s what happens in times of acute stress.” said.
Make sure you express your feelings
Prof. Dr. Nesrin Dilbaz also stated that emotions can be experienced during this period: “Extreme fear, feelings of helplessness and horror, shock, inability to feel emotions, unresponsiveness and inability to cry can occur. You may remember the earthquake moments over and over, dream or daydream about what happened and feel like the event is happening again. You may want to avoid places or situations that remind you of the earthquake. You may not remember the event or parts of it, you may not be able to enter the house where the earthquake occurred, you may not be able to stay away from people and you may not want to talk about the event. You may experience symptoms of extreme tension such as insomnia, irritability, irritability, excessive startle and palpitations, tremors, and difficulty breathing. he said.
Noting that he sometimes felt guilty about the food people ate during this period, Prof. Dr. Nesrin Dilbaz said: “No, we will not be ashamed, but we will help. We are living beings, the magnificence of others’ pain does not diminish our pain, we feel their pain even when we are far away. But life goes on so we can stand up as a country and help our citizens there. Otherwise we won’t help there by starving, not sleeping or tormenting ourselves here. We will beat them all in time. My suggestion for this is tell your problems to the people you love, people you trust, talk to them. said.