Thai cave rescue: Boys face post-traumatic stress and flashbacks, but team spirit will help them through, say psychologists

'The continuity of routines these children had before, using sports and a highly functional group dynamic, can act as an emotional buffer for anxiety and depressive symptoms'

The group dynamic may have contributed to the wellbeing of those who had to wait in the cave as their teammates were rescued (AFP)

Members of the Wild Boars elite youth football team have been to hell and back – more than two weeks trapped inside a dark and dank cave network here in the far northern reaches of tropical Thailand.

No sunlight. Rations of food. Air thick with the stench of bats and bereft of healthy levels of oxygen.

Remarkably, the twelve boys – aged between 11 and 16 – and a coach have emerged from the caves with few physical ailments. Two boys are being treated for a lung infection, according to doctors tending to them, with the remainder already on the road to recovery.

As the rescue has unfolded over the past three days, however, experts have warned that mental aspects of the recovery may not be so straightforward, pointing to likely occurrences of post-traumatic stress disorder and flashbacks.

Speaking to The Independent, an academic specialised in the resilience of children said the fact that the boys shared the bond of being part of a team was vital to their recovery.

“The continuity of routines these children had before, using sports and a highly functional group dynamic, can act as an emotional buffer for anxiety and depressive symptoms,” according to Marisa Teixo Cardoso, who travels the world working with children who have suffered extreme trauma.

“An abrupt end to these practices and any isolation from the peer group could exacerbate any mental health issues and is not recommended.”

The group dynamic, she said, would have contributed to the wellbeing of those who had to wait in the cave as their teammates were rescued, and could be utilised as a dominant emotional factor in their recovery.

Authorities on the ground in Mae Sai have revealed over the course of the operation that each group of boys had not seen their families until the day after they were rescued – an ordeal that included an hours-long dive through muddy waters and a helicopter ride from this mountainous border town to the provincial capital of Chiang Rai.

It was revealed today that the second group of boys had been visited by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha in hospital shortly after they were rescued, and by their parents only after 24 hours.

“The presence of the parents is a must,” in the initial stages of recovery, Teixo Cardoso said, adding that those 24 hours apart, on top of more than two weeks of extreme stress, could trigger additional psychological effects on the parents as well as the boys.

The parents were also prevented by authorities from meeting their children at the mouth of the cave, for fears they could become by hysterical. They will also have to wait for seven days as the children are quarantined, potentially watching on through a glass divider at the hospital before they can finally be at their side.

“From the time they went missing until now, the parents would have been suffering from ohnmacht – the feeling of powerlessness to help their own children, to get their children out of the cave.”