New | 'It's the hope I can't stand': experts warn enduring trauma for MH370 family members
Hundreds of grieving family members of passengers missing on the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight are in dire need of psychological counselling, experts have warned, after their uncontrollable outburst of sobs and curses gripped the hearts of millions.
Hundreds of grieving family members of passengers missing on the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight are in dire need of psychological counselling, experts have warned, after their uncontrollable outburst of sobs and curses gripped the hearts of millions.
While public sympathy remains high for the distraught friends and relatives of the missing passengers, experts have raised the question of whether they are receiving enough help.
It’s not the despair. I can take the despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand. Even if the rational mind is accepting the final outcome, the emotional mind is still very resistant
“Some people haven’t been out of their room for days,” said Paul Yin, a psychologist who has been providing free counselling. He said his team of three volunteers has only been able to reach about 30 of the hundred families of passengers aboard the ill-fated Flight 370 that disappeared from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8.
As of Thursday, 571 next-of-kin of the 153 Chinese passengers on board the flight were staying at six hotels in Beijing, according to the airline’s press office, waiting for confirmation on the location of where the plane actually crashed in the southern Pacific Ocean. Yin said the long-lasting uncertainty has exacerbated what is already a traumatising experience.
Lawrence Lam Tak-ming, head of the Department of Health and Physical Education of the Hong Kong Institute of Education said the consequences of the experience could result in long-lasting post-traumatic stress disorder. “There has to be immediate action, providing psychological first aid,” he said. “Some of them could require longer term treatment.”
Paraphrasing a line from the 1986 movie Clockwise, said: “It’s not the despair. I can take the despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand,” psychologist Yin said with a bitter laugh. “Even if the rational mind is accepting the final outcome, the emotional mind is still very resistant.”
Christian Chan, an assistant professor at Hong Kong University’s department of psychology researching the mental effects of disasters said the outbursts of rage had been caused by the incomplete information provided by the Malaysian government – and the unrelenting media focus on the plane’s still unknown fate. “It is the additional stress that is not helpful in that situation,” he said. “The relatives and loved ones have gone through an emotional roller coaster.”