China quake survivors show signs of post-traumatic stress
Some will have scars lasting a lifetime. And grim reminders keep coming, with a magnitude 6 aftershock killing at least two Sunday.
MIANYANG, CHINA — At a camp for earthquake survivors, a psychologist hands some plastic toys to a lonely girl named Wang Yue and encourages her to build a house. Why did you put a phone there? he asks her. To call my parents. What's the police car for? To find my grandfather. What's the ambulance for? So I don't get hurt.
This month's devastating quake in China destroyed the 9-year-old's house -- and her little world. Her parents, migrant workers, live far away. Her beloved grandfather, who raised her, has left in search of medical care, destroying her sense of security. The psychologist, Zhang Mingliang, says it's no wonder she's depressed and showing signs of post-traumatic stress.
But in the two days his team has been role-playing with her, the little dolls in her model house, which were placed far away in earlier games, are getting closer to home. Those are all good signs, he says, as the slight girl sits sullen, her memory temporarily gone, her shoulders bowed.
The death and destruction experienced by millions of people in Sichuan province will leave some with scars lasting a lifetime. And the reminders continue unabated, with a magnitude 6 aftershock striking Sunday afternoon, killing at least two people and damaging about 270,000 houses, according to the official New China News Agency.
Psychology, psychiatry and grief counseling are relatively new fields in a culture where formality, Confucian hierarchy and decorum are highly valued and many families customarily don't talk much about their feelings, particularly fathers and sons.
"Chinese traditionally don't like to articulate their emotions," says Helen Chiu, chairwoman of the psychology department at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
In a major turnaround, the government has embraced mental health issues almost from the beginning of this disaster, sending more than 500 volunteers and experts to the affected area, with more on the way. Although these efforts are sometimes amateur, on balance experts see this as a huge shift in society's view of trauma, stress and mental health.
"This is a big change from the past," Chiu adds. "The government is much more aware of psychological problems and has learned quickly from other recent disasters," including Sept. 11 and the 2004 Asian tsunami.
