Tackling stress in humanitarian emergencies

UN peacekeeping and humanitarian personnel will be able to perform more effectively in stressful situations if they are screened and given training in stress management prior to deployment. These were two of the recommendations made on Wednesday by experts on an informal panel on Traumatic Stress in Humanitarian Emergencies. In his presentation, the executive director of the United States National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Matthew Friedman, said that peacekeeping and humanitarian personnel faced two kinds of psychological stressors: they face direct exposure to the inherent danger and deprivation of war zones and they must cope with vicarious traumatisation from the suffering experienced by the people they have been sent to help. In these situations, Friedman said, common stress reactions could be emotional (such as shock, irritabililty or despair), biological (such as fatigue, insomnia or headaches), cognitive (such as poor concentration, confusion or decreased self-esteem) or psychological (such as alienation or substance abuse). Susceptibility to stress varies from individual to individual and according to the nature of a mission assignment. Research on Norwegian troops returning from peacekeeping duty in Southern Lebanon revealed that 96 percent regarded their assignment as an enlightening experience that had enhanced both their self-reliance and their capacity to cope with stress. On the other hand, Canadian general Romeo Dallaire, who was UN commander in Rwanda during the genocide, has since suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Aid workers in Goma in 1994, who were exposed to people dying by the thousands from dehydration, suffered vicarious traumatisation, according to Friedman. The situation was compounded by the fact that they were reminded daily of enormous suffering because the removal of dead bodies was such a huge logistical challenge. (Other countries where the United Nations has had to play major peacekeeping and humanitarian roles in recent years include Liberia, Sierra Leone, Angola, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kosovo and East Timor.) Of crucial importance is the provision of appropriate assistance when “critical incidents” occur, according to UNICEF Security Coordinator Marc Powe. When two UN staff members were killed in Burundi in 1999 UN stress counsellors arrived shortly afterwards to provide counselling. “This made a big difference in helping the UN community to come to terms with what had happened,” Powe said. He added that the UN wanted to train staff in the field to manage stress and to provide assistance if a critical incident occurred. Some 2,500 staff had been trained so far but lack of funds was a significant constraint, he said.