US-based Guyanese clinical psychotherapist Shane Tull is calling for an immediate, long-term mental-health response to the MV Barima tragedy, warning that survivors, bereaved families and recovery workers could carry the effects for years.
Tull said counselling cannot be treated as a short-lived intervention that disappears once the search ends and public attention shifts.
“Mental-health services need to be implemented immediately, not just for the next two weeks, but for the next two years,” he said during an interview.
The response should extend beyond survivors and relatives to fishermen, divers, medical workers, volunteers and other frontline personnel who encountered bodies or participated in the recovery.
Several fishermen reportedly went to sea expecting to rescue survivors but instead found themselves recovering victims. For people with no training or preparation for such scenes, Tull said, the emotional impact could be severe.
“All of those people are going to be severely impacted by this whole experience,” he said.
Tull described the country as experiencing a form of collective shock. Even Guyanese without a direct connection to the victims have been exposed to graphic images, distressing testimony and uncertainty over those still missing.
He cautioned against casually diagnosing an entire population with post-traumatic stress disorder, but said the national response displayed signs of widespread trauma, anger and emotional exhaustion.
Guyana has a tendency to return to ordinary life within weeks of a disaster without examining its long-term psychological consequences, Tull observed.
“We don’t pay enough attention to what this has done to our collective psyche as a nation,” he said.
The politicisation of the tragedy and public disputes over accountability could intensify the distress, he added. For many people, the trauma is not limited to the capsizing itself; it also includes the confusion, conflicting information and anger that followed.
Tull recommended individual counselling, family therapy and group sessions tailored to the different experiences of survivors, relatives and responders.
Support should remain confidential and free from stigma, he said.
He also called for follow-up systems to identify people experiencing persistent anxiety, depression, guilt, nightmares or difficulty functioning.
The government has announced the HEART Initiative to coordinate financial, emotional and spiritual assistance for those affected. Tull said sustained professional care must form a central part of any such programme.
The immediate crisis will eventually end. The psychological consequences will not.
For Tull, that is why the response must be measured in years, not headlines.
