Trapped Chilean miners might be changed forever: Psychologists

The Chilean miners who have been trapped for more than two months may emerge with psychological problems say experts as the rescue approached. Rescue teams were set to start hoisting up the first of 33 miners, trapped down around 700 metres, to the surface around midnight on Tuesday (1400 AEDT Wednesday), Mines Minister Laurence Golborne said.

Psychologists said that some of the miners who spent 17 days cut off from the outside world before contacts could be established likely to emerge stronger, while others could be more fragile but there is a risk of psychological changes they have warned. Chilean authorities have offered at least six months of psychological follow-up.

According to Enrique Chia, a psychologist from Chile's Catholic University, “Their ‘before’ life is over… When all your living conditions are suddenly changed, you have to readjust.” Margarita Loubat, a psychologist from Chile University added, “Someone who has faced death thinks about their personal situation ... what they are and aren't doing in their life, and they need to be accompanied through that.”

Chilean Health Minister Jaime Manalich assured that all 33 miners were calm until now. “Some show predictable signs of anxiety, others have shown increasing heart rates," as the exit approaches,” he added. The miners will undergo a mandatory string of tests during 48 hours in hospital after they emerge from their underground chamber. He explained, “Some might say: ‘I feel so good that I want to return to my family,’” but if they refuse the tests, “it will jeopardize all legal means of protection, disability benefit and pension rights,” Manalich said. Post-traumatic stress could last several weeks or months, the minister said.

There might be physical problems too experts say. Some of these may be fungal infections or sunburned eyes upon reaching the surface. Chilean health officials are reportedly prepared to treat vitamin D deficiency (due to lack of sunlight). The miners will be evaluated for any respiratory infections, and will be monitored to make sure they don't experience any deterioration of the lungs.

Dr. Ananya Mandal

Written by

Dr. Ananya Mandal

Dr. Ananya Mandal is a doctor by profession, lecturer by vocation and a medical writer by passion. She specialized in Clinical Pharmacology after her bachelor's (MBBS). For her, health communication is not just writing complicated reviews for professionals but making medical knowledge understandable and available to the general public as well.

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