Thai Survivors' Mental Scars

[Darknight]

Thai survivors' mental scars

By Chris Hogg

In Bang Muang, Thailand

It's just a two-hour drive from the luxury resorts of Phuket but the Bang Muang camp couldn't be more different - row upon row of tents, crammed with displaced people.

Refugees are showing signs of shock, anxiety and depression

A couple of days ago, it held 1,000 people. Now there are 3,000 here.

In one tent, we found Petana Tuluk. She lay on the floor, propped up on four plastic bags of donated clothes. It's all she has now.

"Some people can't cope with it," said a nurse at the camp.

"They don't speak to anyone at all. Especially those who were better off - they lost everything. So they find it harder to deal with than the poor people."

Nurse Nila Wantuwitsi came over to talk to Mrs Tuluk. She tried to persuade her to tell her story. The mental health team working here is worried people are keeping their trauma buttoned up inside.

Many of them, the nurse said, are grieving.

I think everybody has some mental illness

Dr Lumsum Lakapichonshit, Bang Muang

"One man had nine or 10 members in his family. Now he has one person in his family... He feels depressed," she said.

Dr Lumsum Lakapichonshit arrived at the camp a week ago. He said it was becoming clear there were some people here with very serious problems.

"I think everybody has some mental illness. Almost everybody suffers from anxiety and some cases have depression.

"Some people separate themselves, stay on their own, and some severe cases have hallucinations. They hear voices," he said.

Survivors have short-term shelter but they need long-term care

At one end of the camp, the charity World Vision has built the first of what will become semi-permanent tin shelters for those who have lost their homes.

But the charity's Kirsty Allen Shirley said it plans to begin a widespread counselling programme. It's important, she said, to address the long-term needs of the people seeking shelter here.

"They're still finding it very difficult to talk about it and open up about what they've seen and the people that they've lost.

"You meet many, many people here who have lost everything, and most of the people that they know perished in the waves. I think that there are varying degrees of symptoms - stress and grief. It's difficult really to gauge the depth right now," she said.

Nearby, they were unloading plastic bags full of bottles of water. Women were picking through piles of clothes.

These are, of course, the immediate needs.

But 600 people in this province alone have been admitted to hospital with serious psychiatric problems since the tsunami. The doctors here said that number was likely to grow.