Experts state that losses, one of the biggest challenges of the elderly period, were experienced quite heavily with the disaster that occurred in Kahramanmaraş; and they indicate that the most commonly observed emotions in elderly individuals after disasters are fear, loss, grief, sorrow, and a depressive mood. Training Officer Idil Arasan Doğan recommends creating safe spaces for elderly individuals with reassuring phrases such as “everything will be alright” in a calm tone of voice, respecting their privacy, and facilitating their adaptation with products such as water, prayer beads, and pillows.
Training Officer Idil Arasan Doğan, an applied psychology lecturer at the Uskudar University Institute of Social Sciences, made evaluations regarding the emotional states of elderly individuals in rapidly developing disaster situations and shared important advice for ensuring their psychological well-being.
The normal daily life of the elderly individual should be restored quickly
Training Officer Idil Arasan Doğan said, “Disaster situations emerge as sudden changes in the conditions in which the elderly individuals have adapted to, and it is a challenging process to adapt to these changes.” She continued, “The most important thing in this process is to restore the normal daily life of the elderly individual as soon as possible. The main goal is to repair the ruptures that occur after the disasters, which shake the body, emotions, or beliefs about the world, and to rebuild these connections with the relationships and support established. First and foremost, in psychological first aid, anxiety and physical condition should be understood without intervention, but direct questions should not be asked about psychological problems. The key point here is psychological triage. It is important that the personnel who will do this have received the necessary training and know what to do when. Unfortunately, the fragile situations created by disaster processes increase the vulnerability that can be experienced with the unique processes of the elderly period. Many elderly individuals were affected by the unprecedented earthquake centered in Kahramanmaraş that occurred in our country. The fact that elderly individuals staying in nursing homes needed help and were left helpless afterward also revealed the helplessness of the situation.”
They respond to sudden losses in different ways across dimensions.
Training Officer Doğan, emphasized that losses, which are one of the biggest challenges of the elderly period, are experienced quite heavily with this disaster. “Elderly individuals face many losses such as peer loss, spouse loss, role loss during their lives. However, in sudden and unexpected disasters such as earthquakes, the elderly respond to the losses in different ways. In addition, denial of reality, forgetfulness that emerges with possible and existing dementia processes, decline in cognitive activities, desire for loneliness and withdrawal symptoms are frequently observed. When they cannot solve the problem with their own perceived solutions, tension and anxiety increase. These processes result in orientation impairment and deterioration in behavioral processes in elderly individuals,” Doğan stated.
They are experiencing fear, grief, and mourning.
According to Training Officer İdil Arasan Doğan, the most commonly observed emotions in elderly individuals following sudden disasters such as earthquakes are fear, loss, mourning, grief, and a depressive mood. “The expectant emotions that arise here can be explained as fear, loss as a response, mourning accompanied by grief, and a state that can be expressed as emotionlessness is described as depression. It is crucial to activate interpersonal support mechanisms and initiate care processes immediately in order for the elderly to overcome this trauma with minimal damage. In this context, it is necessary to prioritize quick access to their loved ones, having food and water readily available, and transportation if necessary,” she stated.
It should be kept ready with the necessities
Training Officer Idil Arasan Doğan stated that the water provided during the process facilitates the adaptation and calming of the elderly, and continued her words as follows:
“Other objects for adaptation can be considered as items such as prayer beads, pillows. In addition to these, the ability of the elderly to survive disasters with minimal damage depends on the creation of safe areas accompanied by psychosocial activities that will occur with the principle of ‘being there at that moment’ and reassuring statements such as ‘everything will be okay’ in a calm tone of voice. Practices such as respecting their privacy, keeping spare medicines, glasses, and hearing aids ready in advance, having a pre-existing location identifier in case of dementia, and using a piece of jewelry with their name on it can be considered as preventive and protective interventions at this point. Additionally, if an elderly individual has Alzheimer’s disease, they will probably not stay in the same place, so extra caution must be taken. It is also crucial to provide education on communication with elderly and dementia patients to those who provide support in the disaster area. In addition to these, creating emergency disaster care centers that are ready to be used is highly valuable.”
Interdisciplinary collaboration is at the forefront
In these processes where interdisciplinary collaboration is crucial, Training Officer İdil Arasan Doğan highlights the importance of interdisciplinary approaches based on geriatrics-geropsychiatry, life review, activation of cognitive functions, and group-based studies. “Ensuring social participation of elderly individuals as a means of instilling hope, and supporting their sense of usefulness may be seen as the most valuable positive intervention in the process. In addition, providing psychoeducation on aging and elderly care to family members, caregivers, nursing home staff, or other service providers with whom the elderly individual lives and interacts can contribute to the mental health of society as an aging population, and serve as a preventive mechanism in emergency situations,” she stated.
