Post-traumatic stress disorders: Aftereffects of the Goiania radiological accident

In September of 1987, a 137Cs medical source was violated in the city of Goiania, Brazil and, as a result, four people died, 249 were internally and/or externally contaminated and 20 people were hospitalised at the Goiania General Hospital. The most serious cases were transferred to the Marcello Dias Naval Hospital in Rio de Janeiro. The objective of this paper is to describe the emotional and social impacts caused by this accident on the hospitalised victims. As these people belonged to a low social-economic level and did not understand the meaning of radioactivity, panic only started to be felt with the first deaths. The origin of their stress was, primarily, the radiation syndrome, but mostly the rejection suffered by them in the Goiania General Hospital, caused by fear of radioactivity; the difficulty in understanding the safety regulations; the always covered staffs; and the isolation due to immune-suppression. They feared having a limb amputated, were worried about their families, ambivalent about death: wishing and afraid of it. They felt guilty about the accident but at the same time they were seeking compensation from the State. Aggressive, due to the long confinement, they rioted inside the hospital. The need for psychological support was felt by the staff but few psychologists volunteered because of fear. Human beings present a number of psychological disorders after the trauma suffered in a catastrophe. These have a pattern, called post-traumatic stress disorders, which was noticed in this accident. It is a lesson learned in Goiania that psychological support is of vital importance to help the patient fight the consequences of the suffering. Psychologists should be trained to work without fear, during emergencies of this kind. (author)