The role of Psychological Association in The role of Psychological Association in

post-disaster.post-disaster.

Psychosocial support: experience of EFPA member countries.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 eventThe traumatic event

is any situationis any situation

which causes an overwhelming sense of vulnerabilitywhich causes an overwhelming sense of vulnerability

  and loss of control "  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 ....).

Multi-professional skills

Medical

Psychiatric

Psychological

Psychosocial

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 aimedat 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.

63%

69%63%

12,5%4%9%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

EARTHQUAKE SCHOOL BUS ACCIDENT EARTHQUAKE

Pre-treatmentPost-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”

DEBRIEFINGDEBRIEFING

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. Introduction2. Discussion on facts3. Discussion on thoughts/cognitions4. Discussion on emotions5. Discussion on symptoms6. Providing Information7. 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