Mental health workers provide vital comfort

"My house collapsed, my house collapsed," Gao Zhenqing said, her eyes filling with tears.

The woman, in her 80s, lost her home in Yuxi village and everything inside when the earthquake struck Sichuan province's Lushan county on Saturday.

She has been unable to get over the loss and said she feels hopeless.

"This is a case of traumatized psychological disorder," said Dong Wen, a therapist with Chengdu's air force medical team, the first medical personnel to enter the disaster area after the magnitude-7 earthquake.

"But it is not easy to discern. Some people would simply take this reaction as over-sadness or stubbornness and would neglect the effect."

Arriving in Lushan at around 4:30 pm on Saturday, the team began providing medical aid, epidemic prevention and psychological intervention.

Dong and his colleagues have found five traumatized psychological disorder cases in the village.

"Old people and children, who are more vulnerable than young and middle-aged people, are the focus of our screening," the doctor said.

Through interviews, the professional therapists were able to determine which people may be suffering from psychological issues.

"Some old people were really stubborn and would not leave their houses," said He Qiang, leader of the team.

"This is dangerous. Their obsession with economic loss or physical injury could lead to future problems and hinder disaster relief."

Xiao Tongliang, another doctor with the team, said "hypertension, or high blood pressure, is what we worry about the most now."

Most people in the village, especially those aged 60 or older, were found to have high blood pressure, Xiao said.

He gave an example of an 86-year-old villager who was crying in her damaged house.

"Her blood pressure was very high, which could easily result in a stroke or rupture of a blood vessel in brain," he said.

Xiao said hopefully through medicine and psychological counseling, the situation can be improved.

"I put the elderly lady on a chair, asked her to relax her whole body and let her mind go blank," the doctor said. "Then I told her about my unfortunate experience in the earthquake five years ago to distract her attention.

"All of the work being done here is very primary, and a whole lot of therapy needs to be performed after the emergency period."

Among the medical team, four of the therapists are women.

"Their courage has surprised us," said He, the leader. "Actually, the female therapists have their advantages in communicating and soothing people's nerves."