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“Bam! This is the worst,” says Zahraa (19), who fled Iraq. “Those colors aren’t bad, but suddenly you’re shaking completely.” The fireworks remind her not of a party, but of a bomb attack in Iraq seven years ago.
New Year’s Eve is a difficult time for many people traumatized by a bombing or shelling, says Simone de la Rie. She is a clinical psychologist at the ARQ National Psychotrauma Center and she treats many people who have fled war zones.
Worldwide, 13 to 25 percent of refugees suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), it turns out from the Care Standard in late 2020. People with PTSD can experience a bombing or shelling from loud, unexpected fireworks, says De la Rie.
Zahraa fled to the Netherlands with her family. She lives in Utrecht, but when she hears a firecracker, her head is returned to Iraq. “Everybody flies, everybody runs,” she says. She feels the fear again and she has to cry. Last year she hid in a garage on December 31, just before New Years. “Everyone was looking at me like: What are you doing here? But yeah, I was just scared.”
NOS Stories spoke to Zahraa. Watch the whole interview here:
Difficult New Year for Zahraa, who fled Iraq after a bombing
Psychologist De la Rie regularly hears in her office that people fear the New Year. In previous years she has had patients from Syria and Iraq struggle with anxiety during the end of the year. It is very likely that the people of Ukraine will also suffer from this in the future.
Psychologist Melissa van Buuren of the Van Buuren Psychology Practice also involves people in her study who are afraid of fireworks. “Sometimes the cause is relatively close in the past, sometimes it’s years ago.”
To prevent fear towards the end of the year, it helps, according to De la Rie, if people consciously consider that there will be explosions of fireworks. Especially the unexpected often causes fear, says De la Rie. Other solutions, he says, seek support or distraction.
Sound protectors can help too, says Van Buuren. “But if people are in pain for a long time, they may also consider treatment like EMDR-exposure therapy-therapyAwareness is important, according to Van Buuren: “People need to realize that there is no imminent danger; It’s not a bomb, it’s fireworks.”
