Crisis and disasters: a psychological response to grieving

DOI: 10.15343/0104-7809.20123615458

Abstract

In response to the increased frequency of critical situations such as disasters or emergencies, along with information speed,
psychology has contributed to building an appropriate and necessary approach to this demand. In this paper we present
some guiding theories for the development and consolidation of this field. Being a crisis period of psychological imbalance
resulting from the event or situation which poses a problem which is insurmountable using known coping strategies, the
goal of intervention in crisis is to solve problems that put a greater pressure in a short period by using a direct and focused
intervention, so that those affected may develop new adaptive strategies. An important demand is in coping with grief
triggered by disasters, which have definite contours and require psychosocial support for those affected, beyond the early
stages. In this combat, there is the difficulty in locating and identifying corpses so that cultural rituals are performed and
allow completion of an ambiguous loss. The concept of presumed world is explored in the significance of the bereavement
process after a disaster as a vector for the changes thus provoked. Being, at the same time, bereaved people and survivors
is a powerful experience of psychosocial transition, from the breakdown of the presumed world due to the need to respond
to the demands of everyday life, in public and private grief. Transitioning between these two areas there is a reflection on
public mourning, which also includes those who, without being directly involved with disasters, turn to different explanations,
be they cultural, political or psychological.