How do we help refugees psychologically ?
The refugee is a person who isnfor a place to keep living in another safe country due to the chaos environment and war in his/her hometown (As cited in Hall, 2016, p. 1). Acoording to the documents provided by BM, the number of regugees reached 65,3 million in late 2016 and unfortunatelly half of refugees are infant. The draumatic increase is mainly caused by the war and conflict in Middle East (Amerikanın Sesi, 2017). The right, life and psychological well-being of refugees are put under protection all around the world. As the number is critical, problems and psychology of refugees need to get attention. This whole process is not easy for both refugees and country of asylum. Refugess face some problems which has a significant effect on their psychological well-being during the period of settlement such as post-traumatic stres disorder, the loss of their family number. (As cited in Hall, 2016, p. 1)
In my opinion, the most important issues are PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and communication. According to researches, between 50 and 59 percent of Syrian refugees have PTSD (As cited in Baker, p. 9). Symptoms of PTSD are sleeplessness, nightmares, repeating same scenes of bad event in their mind, feeling irritated, alienation and fair of living same event (Demirtaş & Bekaroğlu, p. 14). Healing process of PTSD can take months even years. I think that, psychological mental health of refugee can be maintained by psychologist, psychiatrist and volunteers work in refugee camp. This process can be overcome with the help of group therapies and psychological drugs. Especially group therapies plays an important role on socialization of refugess and also make them feel comfortable (Clay, 2017, p. 34). Another issue which gets my attention is communication problems arise because of the different native language of psychologist and refugee. Same problem encountered when refugee patient has an illness. In short, doctor and patient can not understand each other properly. As an example of what I have experienced, a refugee and health proffessional tried hard to communicate and finally had a way to understand each other using their body language. I support the idea of employing health personels who can speak refugee’s language. Also, language courses for refugees are important.
Considering that almost 32 million of refugees are stil need to continue their education, the importance of education is placed near the top of the problem list. During the war, schools and other buildings are destroyed to a large extent and children are not able to keep going. So, education process is interrupted. There are two options exists for Syrian refugees who live in Turkey, temporary training centers and public schools (Aras & Yasun, 2016). Although these solutions are useful, they bring some issues such as discrimination, feeling like an outsider, economical problems. For example, a syrian who studies at a public school, may has difficulty in adapting different culture and new environment. Mainwhile, there are acculturation difficulty and misunderstanding. In my point of view, it causes a problem not only refugees but also Turkish students. In addition to this, teachers also have responsibility of providing healty communication with children. However, they do not have enough knowledge on how to behave to them. I support that educators should take pedagogical education to solve this problem. (Balcı Karaboğa, 2014, p. 42, 43, 44, 45)
Anoher problem that is need to be solved is xenophabia .In my point of view, especially Syrian refugees in Turkey encounter this problem. Because, I can see the enmity in social media and social environment. This hate is trigerred by shared opinions on social media that are not reflect the reality. I think that the goverment inform to people about refugees and their right. For example, they should public official writing about this topic in their website or deliver information note to public.
References
Aras & Yasun, S. & B. (2016, August,12). Türkiye’deki Suriyelilerin eğitim sorunu nasıl çözülür? http://www.aljazeera.com.tr/gorus/turkiyedeki-suriyelilerin-egitim-sorunu-nasil-cozulur
Balcı Karaboğa, F. A. (2014). Suriyeli Göçmenlerin Sorunları Çalıştayı Sonuç Raporu. S. & U. Karaca & Doğan (publisher.) (pp. 42–46). Mersin. http://www.madde14.org/images/b/b0/MersinUnivSuriyeCalistay.pdf
Baker, N. (n.d). Current research on the mental health of Syrian refugees. New York Clay, R.A. (2017, January). In search of hope and home. http://www.apa.org/monitor/2017/01/cover-refugees.aspx
Demirtaş & Bekaroğlu, H & E. Evden uzakta olmak: sığınmacıların/mültecilerin psikolojik sorunları ve alınacak önlemler. (n.d). Kriz Dergisi, 21, 11–24. http://dergiler.ankara.edu.tr/dergiler/21/2081/21561.pdf
Dünya mülteciler günü’nde toplam mülteci sayısı 65 milyon, 20 June 2017,https://www.amerikaninsesi.com/a/tum-dunyadaki-multeci-sayisi-65-milyonu-asti/3908148.html
Hall, M. (2016). Psychological well-being of refugees throughout the relocation process