By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
“Without that, the whole society will continue to suffer from the consequences of mental ill health or issues”
There were two points left out in my article here last week on mental health. The first was, during that press conference, the vice-chair of the local chapter of the Philippine Mental Health Association, Nonnette Benett, told the media present that they can sponsor a workshop for them (the media) on how to handle victims of calamaties. That is a very good point, and for the chapter to sponsor a whole day affair should be a welcome news.
For the media are always the first on ground zero whenever disaster strikes. And almost all of them will just go ahead and start interviewing victims of the calamity, unmindful of their situation. They are still in a state of shock especially if they had lost a loved one or even their whole family. These victims should be handled with care or they might go crazy or become violent, etc.
But the media are not trained for such a situation. What was driven into them is to get the “scoop” or the breaking news, come what may, without any regard to the welfare of the victims.
Another thing that was brought out was the effect of disasters on media reporters. As Llanes of PTV 4 related, he had covered a disastrous fire in Metro Manila and even aftermore than a decade, the memory of the burned corpses are still vivid and haunts him up to this day. He could not forget how he was reporting to the TV station only to realize that he was standing on a burned corpse.
What if such haunting experiences are accumulated and bottled up for decades? A person can get mentally disturbed or even exhibit violent tendencies as in the case of those who had been watching violence as a part of their daily jobs. This explains the violent tendencies of policemen as I have pointed out last week. Sometimes, unconsciously, they express the violence to the members of their own families.
So the mental health panelists said that the mental effects of such memories should be processed. Even just blurting it out to a colleague or a friend over bottles of beer might help.
How to process such experiences or how to debrief oneself should be a part of the workshop as offered by Nonnette Benett.
I heard also about the need for the PMA cadets who recently “hazed” a cadet to death to undergo mental health processes so as to cleanse their minds of that event’s effects. Even those other victims of the hazing. While that would be ideal, I heard that the institution appeared not so receptive about the idea. I hope I got that wrong because, indeed, they have to deal with the mental effects of the experience all their lives. Some mental processes for mental health should be administered on them. Or they soon might be exhibiting some abnormalities in their behavior.
Sadly, it is only when people commit sucide or when they have already crossed the great divide between sanity and craziness that relatives or parents become aware of the need for counseling or mediation or whatever professionally proven process to make a person regain his mental health.
On this, a mass education should be undertaken. How I wish the local chapter of the Philippine Mental Health Association have the resources to undertake such. Without that, the wholse society will continue to suffer from the consequences of mental ill health or issues.
In schools, the guidance counselors should also do their part. But what usually happens is that such school officials are often noticed only when a student commits suicide or when one stabs somebody. The point is that they should be more proactive in the performance of their duties to ensure the mental health of students.
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