Future Projects           

Tamil Nadu, India, September 2006 and February 2007 Projects.

The high incidence of symptoms of post-traumatic stress reported by tsunami survivors and organizations that serve them in February 2006 indicate a need for ongoing trauma work in Tamil Nadu for some time to come. For example, Mr. A.S. Thiyagarajan, a community leader in the Keechanguppam fishing village that lost 20% of its population to the tsunami, reported in that there was still a high incidence of traumatic reactions among school children, so much so that a school in Keechanguppam posts one or two older children by the ocean on some days to look out for a tsunami to help manage the high overall activation in the school. To respond to such needs for further trauma care in Tamil Nadu, Trauma Vidya is planning a six-day training in Chennai in September 2006 as well as another three-week trip to affected coastal areas in Cuddalore and/or Nagapattinam districts in Tamil Nadu in February 2007 to offer education, training, treatment, and research. Trauma Vidya is also in the process of setting up a long-term research project in Tamil Nadu to scientifically measure the extent of traumatic stress among tsunami survivors over time. Anyone interested in finding out more about Trauma Vidya or interested in supporting and/or participating in its activities can contact us through info@traumavidya.org

Tamil Nadu, India. February 2006

               In February 2006, Raja Selvam, Ph.D., led an international team of twelve trauma therapists trained in Somatic Experiencing (SE) to Tamil Nadu, India to offer tsunami survivors further relief from symptoms of traumatic stress. The February 2006 team focused its efforts in the most severely affected district of Nagapattinam that accounted for 6500 of the 10,000 Indian lives lost to the tsunami. Indian Council for Child Welfare Tamilnadu (ICCWTN), a non-government organization (NGO), provided the primary support for the February 2006 team in India. In all, the team treated 186 tsunami survivors for symptoms of traumatic stress at three sites (Keechanguppam, Chinnangudi, and Nagore ITI temporary shelter), treating 54 of them twice, offering a total of 240 sessions in six days spread over two weeks. The treatment approach, based on training survivors to find and support self-healing capacities in their nervous systems to resolve trauma symptoms in themselves and others, was received well by those affected as well as by organizations that serve them.

In addition to making four short presentations on trauma to different organizations involved with tsunami survivors, the team trained 200 NGO personnel in Nagapattinam and 60 NGO personnel and mental heath professionals in Chennai in two two-day trainings on working with trauma. The team also trained 100 NGO personnel in Nagapattinam for a day on working with traumatized children. Participating organizations found our trauma approach valuable, novel, and a missing component in all their prior trainings. Raja Selvam and Beth Nielsen also visited NIMHANS (National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences) in Bangalore, the nodal agency for disaster mental health in India, to explore the possibility of including Trauma Vidya’s approach as a component of the psycho-social care trainings NIMHANS offers after disasters in India. Follow-up research on treatment outcomes among tsunami survivors including naturally-occurring control groups is planned for four weeks and six months after the treatments. Please go to Reports and Photo Essays sections below for more details of this project.

Tamil Nadu, India. June/July 2005

        An international team of eleven trauma therapists and a two-member film crew led by Raja Selvam and Lisa Ladue went to India for three weeks six months after the tsunami and treated over 200 adults and 50 children for  tsunami trauma symptoms. The team also did seven presentations on the psycho-physiology of trauma and healing including one on working with trauma and children and one on the trauma of domestic violence to women’s self-help groups. The team, working in collaboration with a number of local non-government organizations (NGOs), worked with tsunami survivors from thirteen villages in Villupuram, Cuddalore, and Nagapattinam districts in Tamil Nadu, India, which lost over 10,000 lives to the tsunami. The team’s treatments and presentations were well-received by tsunami survivors as well as collaborating organizations. Follow-up research done four weeks after the treatments indicate significant and sustained symptom reduction in a majority of those treated with a short-term psycho-physiological trauma treatment approach based on Somatic Experiencing (SE). 73% of 463 presenting symptoms treated remained significantly improved four weeks after the treatments, with 27% somewhat better, 28% a lot better, and 18% completely resolved.