1st Anniversary of the Kahramanmaraş Earthquake... Psychologist Melis Yılmaz: The period of deferred grief continues, its effects may last for years

Ercan KÜÇÜK - 12punto.com.tr

Immediately following the Kahramanmaraş earthquake, many psychologists went to the region to try to help the earthquake survivors. One of those psychologists was Melis Yılmaz. Yılmaz spoke to 12punto about the state of mind of the survivors one year after the earthquake and the traumas they have yet to overcome.

Yılmaz emphasized that they encountered emotions such as confusion, fear, hopelessness, guilt, and anger among the survivors. Yılmaz stated the following:

HOMES, DREAMS, AND CITIES WERE DESTROYED

“Unfortunately, a whole year has passed; for some of us, what happened is as fresh as if it were yesterday, while for others, it feels like a long time ago, and our agendas and anxieties have changed.

I have clients I speak with from the earthquake zone who were affected by the earthquake. It is a difficult question. How can such destruction be overcome? Homes were destroyed, dreams were destroyed, cities were destroyed, and many families, spouses, and friends were destroyed. Has it been overcome? No, it has not, but for those who survived, life goes on. People are trying to build something new as best they can, without forgetting or erasing what was destroyed and the losses suffered.”

PROCESSES THAT WILL CONTINUE FOR MONTHS AND YEARS…

Yılmaz stated that the effects of the earthquake are visible and still ongoing. Yılmaz even pointed out that some effects could last for years. Yılmaz said:

“Even though a year has passed, there is still rubble that has not been cleared, and there are still people living in containers; it is a great mystery when this situation will be resolved and when basic human needs will be fully met. Uncertainty is one of the situations that causes the most anxiety for humanity, and unfortunately, Turkey is a country of uncertainties.

If we look at psychological reactions on an individual basis, we encounter mental and spiritual states such as confusion, fear, hopelessness, guilt, and anger; there are sleep and focus problems, the events are relived in the mind, they appear in dreams, and triggers emerge.

Along with those who have adapted to the new situation and established their internal balance to continue their daily routines, some people are going through difficult processes that will continue for months and perhaps years.

At this point, we must answer the question of what trauma is. According to the definition by the Turkish Psychological Association (TPD), we call it psychological trauma when it is caused by events that are often extraordinary and unexpected, which terrify the person, leave them in a state of horror, and create helplessness. Many events in human life cause distress and sadness, but not all of them create psychological trauma.

Event:
-if it has created a feeling of fear, horror, or helplessness,

In the event:
-if there is a danger of death or injury to the person themselves or their loved ones
it is called psychological trauma. The earthquake is among the top events that lead to psychological trauma.”

DEFERRED GRIEF PERIOD

When we asked, ‘Have people been able to experience their grief?’, Psychologist Yılmaz pointed out that many people are still in a period of deferred grief. Yılmaz spoke as follows:

“It is not possible to say that it has been fully experienced. While every individual's way of experiencing and dealing with pain is different, fundamentally, because state institutions were not prepared for such a disaster and were not planned or organized, people in the region were left alone with feelings of uncertainty, loneliness, and helplessness from the very first hours. Although there have been very important and great scenes of solidarity, many people are currently in a period of ‘deferred (pathological) grief.’

There are factors that influence how the grieving process progresses and how it affects the person. At the forefront of these are: who the lost person was, the nature of the relationship with the lost person, how the person died, socioeconomic factors, traditional understandings of mourning, support received from the environment, the personality traits of the grieving person, and their past traumatic experiences. There are stages that an individual must go through in a healthy grieving process;

1. Accepting the reality of the loss

2. Expressing emotions

3. Adjusting to environments where the deceased person is no longer present

4. Emotionally rearranging relationships with the deceased and continuing social life, creating a memory formulation

When these stages that a grieving person is expected to experience are not lived through, the person's grieving process can become complicated, or in other words, pathological grief. Pathological grief can be expressed as the individual experiencing the grieving process with excessive intensity, not progressing through the stages of grief and getting stuck in one stage, becoming a state of constant mourning, and the process of adapting to normal life not progressing, leading to stereotypical repetitions. In the process of pathological grief, it is mandatory to get help from an expert.”

So, how does a society that has experienced such great pain and loss heal? Yılmaz answered this question of ours as follows:

“I think that no matter how I answer this question, it will remain incomplete. For a society to heal, systemic changes that place ‘the human’ at the center—from the individual, who is the smallest building block of society, to the state authority, and at economic, social, and vital levels—are mandatory at the point we have reached today. Without a total change in planned economy, planned urban structuring, precautions taken for natural disasters such as earthquakes, education, health, the lack of a future, and the struggle for women's rights, we cannot talk about the healing of society.”