Malaysian Airlines Incident Psychological Relief: Mutual Trust is Important

It has been a month since the MAS’s loss of association. Whether or not the black box can be salvaged has recently become a focus of attention. Although the Malaysian government claimed that the aircraft had crashed in the South Indian Ocean based on information analysis, there was no possibility of survivors onboard the aircraft. However, one day they did not find lost passenger planes. One day they did not clarify the truth of the incident and their family members’ hearts would not be calm. The calm was distracting and the family members were overwhelmed.... In the Lido Hotel where MAS’s lost family members were relatively concentrated, the relevant departments added a 24-hour mini clinic. The psychologists helped the family to resolve anxiety and other negative effects through one-on-one psychological counseling. mood.

The accidental loss of the Malaysian airliner has not been as dramatic and shocking as the tragic scenes after the disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and mudslides. Family members were heard by the missing event rather than being present at the scene of the incident. Therefore, the family rarely encounters intrusive crises or witnesses of disasters, but the family members' moods are ups and downs, constantly experiencing frequent changes in hopes and disappointments. Faced with such a rare crisis event in aviation history, psychological rescue work faces enormous challenges: there are many uncertainties; the duration of the incident is uncontrollable; information is vague; and there are many people involved. For these characteristics, as participants in the experience of psychological rescue, we have the following experience:

1. Psychological assistance should be active but not strong. After a crisis event occurs, the psychological assistance worker will introduce himself to the family members at the first time so that the family members will know the existence of the psychological rescue team. For example, after receiving the task, we first set up a psychological assistance station at the hotel where the family of the missing couple stayed, announced the telephone and related information of the psychological assistance service group, and created conditions for the follow-up of the psychological intervention work.

On-site psychological interventions keep in mind that the goal of psychological assistance is to reduce discomfort, provide emotional comfort and support, and stabilize emotions is a key factor. Help them identify pressing issues that need to be dealt with immediately and give practical help, even if it is a trivial matter in life, rather than being stuck with psychological issues. Not to force people to ask the details of what they have experienced so as not to cause greater harm to their families.

2, mutual trust is very important. Do not expect all family members to receive immediate psychological help, and do not expect that the intervention will immediately take effect. Some family members may take a long time to establish a sense of security and trust in the intervenors. If family members refuse to help, we will respect their decision and show that if necessary, they can find us at any time.

When we hold a daily communication meeting or an important information conference, we will pay close attention to the scene, evaluate potential emotional people, and control incidents that can easily trigger family emotions to ensure the safety of families.

3, it is not easy to break their hopes. Many factors cause different people to have different understandings of crisis events, so that families will have different rhythms and ways in handling events. For example, because the incident is still uncertain, some families have hope for the survival of their families. We should not easily break their hopes, and for those who seem to have accepted the crash facts, we must follow their rhythm, without judging. Do not deny.

4. Carefully assess the family's overall condition. Most families will have a variety of reactions. Physiologically: Headache, vomiting, muscle aches, palpitations, unstable blood pressure, dry eyes, sleep disorders, loss of appetite, etc.; psychologically: anxiety, worry, anger, denial, feelings of desertion, depression, etc.; cognitive: attention Do not concentrate, memory decline, self-blame, blame others, suicidal thoughts, etc.; behavior: cry, sigh, not contact with people, easy to conflict with others. It is very important to timely grasp the status of key intervention groups and provide timely and necessary intervention.

5, psychological rescue can not be alone. Throughout the rescue process, we realized that the most profound thing is that psychological relief work should be linked to other staff members at the scene, especially medical rescue personnel such as 120, 999. At the same time, families are encouraged to support, escort, and comfort each other and to teach them techniques and methods to ease their emotions. The family members of the Malaysian Airlines lost passenger plane spontaneously set up a family committee. Among them, there are no lack of mind-minded and reasonable people. This has played a crucial role in relieving the emotions of some families.