Download Diapositiva 1

The role of Psychological Association in
post-disaster.
Psychosocial support: experience of EFPA member countries.
Symposium 8
Speaker: Karanci A. Nuray
The experience with the Association for
Psychological Emergency in Italy
by Vito Tummino
"The traumatic event
is any situation
which causes an overwhelming sense of vulnerability
and loss of control "
M.R. Solomon.
What does the emergency psychology do?
It creates effective models of intervention in emergency
situations (natural disasters, terrorist acts, accidents caused by
men, wars, epidemics ....).
Psychosocial
Medical
Multi-professional
skills
Psychiatric
Psychological
Italian Legislation
•Law 225/1992 establishing the National Service of Civil Protection
•Decree of the Interior Minister 06/04/2001 "Adoption of the policy guidelines for
the organization of health assistance in disasters“
•Decree of Chairmen of the Council of Ministers 13/06/2006 "Policy guidelines on
psychosocial interventions to be implemented in emergencies"
Explicit reference to the necessity of experts dealing with training and counseling.
Italian Associations of Emergency Psychology
FormAUPI Emergency
EMDR Italia
FormAUPI-Emergency and EMDR Italia organize regional and transnational
networks of Emergency Psychologists, who work in the trauma and
emergency-urgency psychology with the particular integration of public and
private psychological services.
SIPEM Italian Society of Emergency Psychology
No-profit social organization.
It works with its psychological support units (psychologists, phisicians,
sociologists, nurses and social workers) in case of individual and collective
disastrous events in Italy or in foreign countries.
Federazione Psicologi per i Popoli
A federation composed of 14 regional and provincial associations aimed
at performing international cooperation activities.
It plans and implements interventions addressed to direct and indirect victims,
rescuers and organizations involved in organizing and managing the response
to the event.
Italian experiences:
EMDR
Abruzzo earthquake
Erba massacre
FORMAUPI-EMERGENCY AND APPLICATION OF EMDR
IN TRAUMATIC SITUATIONS: STUDIES ON CHILDREN
VICTIMS OF DISASTERS
• Earthquake in San Giuliano di Puglia (2002): 27 children died in
a school
• Car crash of a bus during a school trip (2007): 2 children dead,
many serious injuries
• Earthquake in L’Aquila (2009)
Recipients:
7-11 year old children.
What was done:
• 6 EMDR sessions lasting 30-90 minutes, depending on the level of development
and child's response.
• 3 cycles of treatment after 1 month, 3 months, 1 year
• Sessions of group and individual EMDR treatment.
Results:
The symptoms of PTSD tend to decrease significantly after EMDR treatment.
90
63%
80
69%
70
63%
60
50
40
30
20
9%
10
0
EARTHQUAKE
12,5%
4%
SCHOOL BUS ACCIDENT
EARTHQUAKE
Pre-treatment
Post-treatment
ABRUZZO EARTHQUAKE
The L’Aquila Earthquake (April 2009) is a series of seismic events, which began in
December 2008 and that continued for several months until May 2010, with
epicenters in the whole area of the city. The main quake, which occurred on the 6th
of April 2009, had a magnitude of 5.9 on the Richter scale. The event caused 308
victims, more than 1600 injured and over 10 billion euro of estimated damage.
The Psychology unit of Sant'Anna Hospital in Como, with the support of Form-AUPI,
planned and implemented a psychology emergency intervention after the disaster.
Recipients:
population directly affected by the earthquake, emergency workers, teachers,
administrative staff.
Population reached:
around 299 people: 254 victims of the earthquake and 45 emergency workers.
What was done:
• 62 individual psychological assessment
• 32 debriefing groups adressed to the victims
• 6 debriefing groups addressed to 45 operators
• 2 training groups for psychologists
• 5 debriefing groups addressed to 54 employees of the ”Aquilone Shopping Center”
DEBRIEFING
Addressed to homogenous groups of aid workers who partecipated in critical
events.
The group setting is essential to facilitate the integration of the critical event in
personal life, because the awareness that other people may have the same
reactions, can help to normalize them.
Procedure:
1. Introduction
2. Discussion on facts
3. Discussion on thoughts/cognitions
4. Discussion on emotions
5. Discussion on symptoms
6. Providing Information
7. Conclusion
Evaluation questionnaire
N = 191 subjects (nurseries, primary and secondary schools, hotels).
- Subjects believe that the psychological intervention has contributed to
improving their ability to react to the event.
- Subjects evaluate “good” the quality of the service.
- Subjects consider the psychological intervention “very important” in the
situation that they are experiencing.
- 188 subjects would recommend the participation in the proposed
psychological intervention.
ERBA MASSACRE
Criminal episode occurred in Erba (CO), in Lombardy, on the 11th December 2006.
In the massacre, carried out in a apartment in the center of the town, a woman (30
years old), her son (2 years old), the child's grandmother and a neighbour were killed
with knives and iron bars. The neighbour’s husband didn’t die because the killers
believed him to be dead. After the massacre, the killers set fire to the apartment.
On May 2011, the “Corte Suprema di Cassazione” in Rome finally recognized Olindo
Romano and Rosa Bazzi, the victims’ neighbours, as authors of the massacre.
What was done:
• Individual and family support to the survivor and the families of the victims
• Defusing, Debriefing and follow up with the crew involved in the First Aid
• Debriefing and follow up with firemen
• EMDR with the victims' families and with PTSD cases
• Information meeting with the doctors of the area, with parents and school teachers
Thank you for your attention!
Thanks to Castelnuovo Giulia and Vaiarelli Marzia