Page 217 - Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilience

186 Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilence

In a village with no temple bell—
What do the people do?—
Twilight in spring

Sometimes I feel the psychological view is this village without a temple.
Yet, as Basho says, what do the people do? How to we function without an
organizing spiritual principle. I believe that we need to have some ritual
to call us together to remember what it is to be alive with all our suffering,
grief, and joy.

a Psychiatry Perspective
Craig l. Katz, M.D.

My perspective on disasters and rituals arises from my experience in co-
founding and leading, in various capacities, an organization devoted to uti-
lizing psychiatrists to reduce suffering in the aftermath of disaster, Disaster
Psychiatry Outreach (DPO). I have had the opportunity to participate in
every disaster to which our organization has responded since its founding
in 1998, ranging from aviation disasters, such as the 1998 crash of Swissair
Flight 111, to terrorist attacks like 9/11, to natural disasters, such as the
2008 Sichuan earthquake in China. I have witnessed the role of rituals and
routines across disasters, cultures, and countries and believe they are a
central aspect of the psychological and spiritual experience of recovery.
Related to but apart from my volunteer work in disasters has been my
role in developing and directing a mental health program to meet the
long-term needs of rescue and recovery workers who worked or volun-
teered at Ground Zero in New York City (Katz, Smith, Silverton, et al.,
2006). This has been part of my day-to-day work life since July 2002.
Therefore, it is with telling irony that, as I sit writing this chapter, I am
missing “World Trade Center Responder Day,” an all-day event to com-
memorate the efforts of 9/11 responders and how those efforts may have
changed their lives in ways both good and bad. It is taking place around
Ground Zero and includes a “speak out” for responders to share their
experiences, as well as spiritual activities. My mental health colleagues
and I were invited to provide professional support to attendees, but I am
not there. My absence from this ritual exemplifies the complexity of how
the field of mental health, especially psychiatrists, deals with rituals. As I
will discuss further below, Responder Day, like other rituals, feels neces-
sary but entirely foreign.