Psychological intervention for victims of Wenchuan earthquake: From a rational perspective

This paper is to analyze the characteristics of psychological intervention after China Wenchuan earthquake based on the previous studies of the former earthquakes in China, and to provide evidence for future psychological intervention under similar conditions. Psychological intervention was immediately provided to the victims of Wenchuan earthquake, the rescuers and journalists in the field. Compared with the former earthquakes in China, Wenchuan earthquake proposed new challenges to psychological professionals: not all the counselors or educators were suitable to provide psychological support in the earthquake field; the intervention to earthquake victims was totally different from that to those receiving traditional counseling; and long-term psychological intervention should be planned. The psychologists should be selected carefully and well-trained before working in a field condition; psychologists should be organized as a team when they work in the field so that they can get support from other team members; psychologists could not presume that " everyone who experienced the earthquake would have psychological disorders or posttraumatic stress disorder"; psychologists should serve as a guider to other people as how to correctly treat the victims, especially the wounded, the children and the orphaned; finally, psychologists should incorporate research work in their psychological intervention process.