Tsunami Trauma and Mental Health
The AFP released an interesting story detailing how many traumatized Thais are dealing with the horror of the Tsunami ... they are hallucinating and making-up stories about ghosts. From the article:
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Taxi drivers in Patong swear they have picked up a foreign man and his Thai girlfriend going to the airport with all their baggage, only to then look in the rear-view mirror and find an empty seat.
Guards at a beachfront plaza in Patong told AFP one of their men had quit after hearing a foreign woman cry "help me" all night long, and similar stories abound of a foreign ghost walking along the shoreline at night calling for her child.
The majority of Thais are deeply superstitious, believing ghosts reside in most large trees and keeping a spirit house in every home where daily offerings of food and drink are given to calm nearby paranormal entities.
Mental health experts warn tsunami survivors have picked up on this cultural factor as a way of expressing mass trauma after living through the deadly waves and witnessing horrific scenes in their aftermath.
"This is a type of mass hallucination that is a cue to the trauma being suffered by people who are missing so many dead people, and seeing so many dead people, and only talking about dead people," Thai psychologist and media commentator Wallop Piyamanotham told AFP.
Wallop said in time people who need counselling would be reached and assisted and the sightings would settle down, but many locals claimed they would not be swayed by such talk.
"After visiting Wat Baan Muang (a temple where hundreds of bodies are still stored) I'm very scared. I can't sleep at night and when the wind comes I'm sure it is the spirits coming," said Patong bar manager Napaporn Phroyrungthong.
"I believe in ghosts and I always will. (The tsunami) happened so quickly, the foreigners didn't know what happened and they all think they are still on the beach. They all think they are still on holiday," she said.
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Taxi drivers in Patong swear they have picked up a foreign man and his Thai girlfriend going to the airport with all their baggage, only to then look in the rear-view mirror and find an empty seat.
Guards at a beachfront plaza in Patong told AFP one of their men had quit after hearing a foreign woman cry "help me" all night long, and similar stories abound of a foreign ghost walking along the shoreline at night calling for her child.
The majority of Thais are deeply superstitious, believing ghosts reside in most large trees and keeping a spirit house in every home where daily offerings of food and drink are given to calm nearby paranormal entities.
Mental health experts warn tsunami survivors have picked up on this cultural factor as a way of expressing mass trauma after living through the deadly waves and witnessing horrific scenes in their aftermath.
"This is a type of mass hallucination that is a cue to the trauma being suffered by people who are missing so many dead people, and seeing so many dead people, and only talking about dead people," Thai psychologist and media commentator Wallop Piyamanotham told AFP.
Wallop said in time people who need counselling would be reached and assisted and the sightings would settle down, but many locals claimed they would not be swayed by such talk.
"After visiting Wat Baan Muang (a temple where hundreds of bodies are still stored) I'm very scared. I can't sleep at night and when the wind comes I'm sure it is the spirits coming," said Patong bar manager Napaporn Phroyrungthong.
"I believe in ghosts and I always will. (The tsunami) happened so quickly, the foreigners didn't know what happened and they all think they are still on the beach. They all think they are still on holiday," she said.
posted by Christine at Friday, January 14, 2005
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