{"id":168717,"date":"2021-02-02T00:06:57","date_gmt":"2021-02-01T21:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/survivors-of-beiruts-explosion-endure-psychological-scars\/"},"modified":"2021-02-02T00:06:57","modified_gmt":"2021-02-01T21:06:57","slug":"survivors-of-beiruts-explosion-endure-psychological-scars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/survivors-of-beiruts-explosion-endure-psychological-scars\/","title":{"rendered":"#Survivors of Beirut\u2019s explosion endure psychological scars"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Survivors of Beirut\u2019s explosion endure psychological scars<\/strong>”
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BEIRUT \u2014 Joana Dagher lay unconscious and hemorrhaging under a pile of rubble in her apartment after the massive Beirut port blast in August, on the brink of death.<\/p>\n

She survived because of the courage of her husband who got her out, the kindness of a stranger who transported her in his damaged car and the help of her sisters during the chaos at the overwhelmed hospital.<\/p>\n

But Dagher doesn\u2019t remember any of that: The 33-year-old mother of two lost her memory for two full months from the trauma she suffered in the explosion, including a cerebral contusion and brain lesions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI lost my life on August 4,\u201d Dagher said. \u201cI lost my house, I lost my memory, I lost two friends,\u201d she added, referring to neighbors killed in the explosion. \u201cI lost my mental health, and so I lost everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Beirut explosion<\/a>, which killed more than 200 people and injured more than 6,000, caused wounds on an even wider scale on the mental health of those who lived through it.<\/p>\n

Dagher is gradually regaining her memory. But another kind of pain lingers.<\/p>\n

Though therapy now helps, she said she no longer feels the same. Dagher is usually a calm and independent person, her sister Jihane said. Now she experiences bursts of anger and stress, emotionally shutting down and at times getting aggressive \u2014 all signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to experts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe past 6 months have been a purgatory,\u201d Jihane said. \u201cWhen you see someone you love suffer so much, everyone suffers with them, you are helpless.\u201d<\/p>\n

The blast was caused by\u00a0a fire that ignited nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate<\/a>\u00a0stored in a port warehouse. One of the biggest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded, the force tore through the city, sending people flying across rooms and\u00a0slicing them with flying glass<\/a>. Windows and doors were blown out miles away from the epicenter.<\/p>\n

Even in a country that has seen many wars and bombings, never had so many people \u2014 tens of thousands \u2014 directly experienced the same traumatizing event at the same time.<\/p>\n

It came on top of the stress that Lebanese were already feeling from\u00a0multiple crises<\/a>, including an unprecedented economic meltdown, the\u00a0coronavirus pandemic\u00a0and a feeling of helplessness after nationwide protests against corruption that failed to achieve their goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are very high levels of anxiety and worry across the population,\u201d said Mia Atwi, psychologist and president of Embrace, an organization working on mental health awareness and support. \u201cThere is a low mood bordering on clinical depression for the majority of the population.\u201d<\/p>\n

Demand for therapists has ballooned, making it hard to find treatment, especially since many qualified experts are leaving the country.<\/p>\n

Embrace expanded its clinic after the explosion and still it has a 60-person-long waiting list. It has provided support for 750 people since the blast. Most are experiencing post-explosion symptoms, depression and anxiety, Atwi said. On Embrace\u2019s helpline, 67% of the phone calls since August are from people in emotional distress, and 28% had suicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0blast left mental wounds<\/a>\u00a0even in those it didn\u2019t wound physically.<\/p>\n

Najla Fadel, 33, was miraculously unscratched when the blast shattered the glass windows of her house, badly injuring her child\u2019s babysitter. In the last months of her pregnancy with her second child, Fadel transported the bleeding woman to the hospital by herself.<\/p>\n

She has since struggled with nightmares. She often wakes up, heart pounding, thinking the explosion has happ<\/a>ened again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI jump at any sound and start looking for shelter,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The worst, she said, are thunderstorms and the sound of the Israeli warplanes that regularly violate and fly low through Lebanon\u2019s airspace.<\/p>\n

\u201cA few nights ago, when planes were roaming above Beirut, I slept in the corridor,\u201d she said. \u201cThis way I am halfway from my kids\u2019 room, I can grab them faster and run just in case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fadel saw a therapist for a while. Many others don\u2019t get help.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of people neglecting their mental health or don\u2019t know what to do,\u201d said Souraya Frem, president and co-founder of Cenacle De Lumiere, an organization that after the explosion began offering free mental health support in Beirut.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are struggling with poverty, how to make ends meet and so they don\u2019t see mental health as a priority,\u201d Frem said.<\/p>\n

From Perth, Australia, where she moved after the blast, Sarah Copland said she has been seeing two therapists to cope with her loss.<\/p>\n

In the explosion, a shard of glass tore through the tiny chest of her 2-year-old son, Isaac, ending his short life. That day, she said, her life came to a standstill.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy last image of my little boy is something a mother should never see,\u201d she said. \u201cThat comes into my mind when I least expect it \u2014 we are going to do something, and it comes. It is very distressing.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time, Copland was employed by the U.N. in Beirut. Thousands of miles from Lebanon, the memory haunts her.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sight or sound of broken glass gives me anxiety,\u201d she said. \u201cLying in bed at night I hear the wind against the windows and that really freaks me out. I freeze up because it reminds of the whishing sound as the explosion came through our windows.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copland\u2019s 2-month-old son Ethan keeps her going, she said, but the pain is deep. \u201cHearing children scream, even if it is in delight, takes me back to the hospital, to Isaac and to the children screaming in pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now in a temporary apartment outside Beirut, Joana Dagher decided to stay in Lebanon, despite the thousands who are leaving.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be close to those I love, to my family and I will not let those politicians remove me from my home or my country, I will stay here to see justice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But like most survivors of that horrific day, there is a fear that never leaves her. \u201c<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fear of losing those I love is stronger than ever.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

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