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Week 3/ 2005: Panic in crisis can be avoided

Healthy fear is a normal emotion, but if the threat is something unknown or misunderstood, then it can turn into irrational terror and panic.

The fear of an incomprehensible threat may cause mass hysteria as people identify with the symptoms of other people.

– Bioterrorism is a case in point: it causes irrational terror. One example is the letters in which a leaking white powder was thought to be poison, said Professor of Psychiatry Jouko Lönnqvist at the Science Forum last Friday.

But panic arising in crisis situations can be prevented. Factual information from experts and authorities, clear instructions, and confident leadership are all things that alleviate fear.

– In the Asian catastrophe, panic was first caused by the apparent lack of direction in management of the situation. Order can be maintained, although there aren’t enough facts, Lönnqvist said.

Despite good leadership and adequate information, the proximity of danger always causes psychological stress, which when prolonged, can be damaging. Circumstances that involve violence, accidents, and natural disasters are typically traumatising.

– While people are recovering from the trauma caused by the Asian catastrophe, we should rely on the individual’s own means of coping rather than mass therapy, and give help to those who really need it, Lönnqvist added.

He believes that the crisis teams offering help to everyone involved in a catastrophe were primarily developed to help the helpers.

– It’s good that there’s such a wide range of methods available, but one should not dominate to the detriment of the other. People react differently and they should be able to get the kind of support they need. Trauma should be approached both functionally and emotionally, Lönnqvist pointed out.

Text and photo: Mirja Mäenpää
www.helsinki.fi/digitalcommunications

Translation: Valtasana Oy