"The year's most stressful event has been the Beslan [crisis], I think. It is always traumatic when someone dies, but the death of innocent children is an especially depressing experience to all," Aliyev noted. Also, the Beslan tragedy has made the nation feel even more insecure and strained than before, he added.
Our interviewee said he applauded the Russian parliament's decision to extend the New Year's and Christmas holidays to ten days. In his view, this is a good gift to the public, one that will have a soothing effect on their hearts and minds. He also argues that the decision is an economically feasible one, given that the productiveness of working Russians has customarily been down at that time of the year.
Aliyev's center provided psychological aid for nearly 400 survivors of the Beslan hostage crisis. A group of specialists from that center visited the site twice in the wake of the crisis, in order to help the surviving schoolchildren, teachers and their families to overcome the trauma.
In his work, Aliyev uses an original self-regulation methodology he invented back in 1981 for training astronauts for zero gravity conditions. This methodology is the only one of its kind as it does not require any verbal interaction. This is particularly helpful in working with people subjected to acute traumatic experiences (such as a terrorist act), who often find it hard or impossible to speak.
"Psychologists usually say to a child: 'Close your eyes and picture yourself running across a green field; the sun's shining and you feel great.' And the child closes his/her eyes and sees an explosion," Dr. Aliyev said. His own methodology makes children concentrate on bodily movements, which can alleviate the stress automatically and with far greater effectiveness, he claims.
