2.

Human made Disasters

a) Substance Abuse: Abuse of alcohol and other substances, such as street drugs are
associated with depression, because of their effect on neuro-transmitter level. It is not unusual
for a temporary depression to occur during substance abuse or after withdrawal. Anyone who
has been drinking heavily will noticed adverse effects on their mood. Mood and well-being
continue to improve for several month after abstinence.1 Coming back into real world can be
very difficult for people who are overcoming alcohol and drug problem. They need to put
new ways of coping with life’s stresses into place. Of those who fail to stop drinking, many
simply have not got coping mechanism in place with day-to-day problems. Sometimes they
lose in touch with their friends and interests is potentially in a very serious situation. Besides
this, unpleasant paranoid feelings, psychotic breakdown and loss of contact with the reality
are mostly found.2

b). War experience of military men: Military personnel were drafted into military service for
combat and face countless disjunction in their lives and almost unspeakable fears. They are
often less articulate in their readiness to describe feelings of anger, hurt, loneliness. They are
more likely to act them out. The experience of death and loss by the military member
involves another critical time and for some individual, it seems, some come face to face with
the real grief for the first time. Different food, different clothing, different people, different
sound and compression of both space and time make their life seem alien and isolating.3

c)Prison: According to Carole A. Rayburn, Prison is more than the stone or brick wall, the
bars and the cells. The very idea of Prison is depressing. It is that personal freedom is taken
away from the individuals by impersonal legal authorities when court system mete out
punishment to those convicted of criminal behavior. The result is that they have insecurity,
hopelessness and helplessness, shame, feelings of degradation and failure, loss of choice and
privacy and need to survive somehow under the most trying of circumstances make up part of
the picture of imprisonment.4

d).Psychological: when a person is psychologically abuse, his body response to what the
mind has been told at a time of acute grief. Sometime his immune system breaks down and he
or she become more vulnerable to illness. The general effects are5:

i).Heart Palpitation,ii).Headaches, iii).Difficulty in sleeping, iv)Shortness of breath,

v).Sensitivity to noise, vi).Generalized lack of energy and fatigue vii)Queasiness,
viii). Agitation and generalized tension.

1
Dr. Stephan Cembrowicz and Dr.Dorcas, Beating Depression: ASympathetic and Understanding Guide
(London: Class Publishing, 2002), 41.
2
Dr. Stephan Cembrowicz and Dr.Dorcas, Beating Depression: ASympathetic and Understanding Guide
(London: Class Publishing, 2002), 42-45.
3
Ross H. Trower, “Military” Clinical Handbook of Pastoral Counseling,Edited by Robert J.Wicks and Donald
Capes Vol-1 (New Jersey: Paulist Press, 1993). 446.
4
Carole A.Rayburn, “Prison” Clinical Handbook of Pastoral Counseling…,360.
5
Alan D. Wolfelt, Death and Grief: A Guide for Clergy (Indiana: Accelerated Development Inc, 1988), 43.
e) Physical: Women are mostly the victims of Domestic violence in a family. A violent men
are often vulnerable and may come from abusive backgrounds. This result in the essentiality
for a women to have an emergency plan in place, which would enable her to leave the home
at a very short notice. This may include keeping some spare cash aside, having access to a
friend or relative for shelter and having the telephone number of social services readily
available.6

Pastoral Response:

In the context of Military, the chaplain should act as an instrument and address the wounded
spirits with the word, with words, or with a helpful-or healing action. It meets young, active,
eager men and women at the point of their needs. This would encourage hope, faith and love
among person seek greater freedom from their fears and larger confidence in their strength.

6
Dr. Stephan Cembrowicz and Dr.Dorcas, Beating Depression: ASympathetic and Understanding Guide
(London: Class Publishing, 2002), 31.