Course:EOSC311/2022/Psychology of Natural Disasters

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Introduction to our "natural" worlds

Various past psychological researches have shown that disasters can cause serious mental health consequences for victims, people who survived them, people who lost loved ones in such accidents, and people who had traumatic experiences that they couldn't live with the memories. In today's world, where psychology and geology are becoming widely studied topics, the average population started to gain more awareness of these related topics.

Natural disasters exist even way before any living creatures ever existed on our planet. They are the result of a hazard overwhelming highly vulnerable community, often resulting in mortality and morbidity, they also tend to have a significant impact on the public health and people's well-being (impacts being negative most of the time). [1]

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Psychological illnesses, on the other hand, only came around and built their framework in the somewhat recent development years of human society, and our understanding of them came in even much later. However, with our limited knowledge so far, one could still draw the connections between experiencing traumatic events and struggling with psychological difficulties.

Research has shown that when emotional trauma can be caused by various factors, such as being the victim of something that is out of one's control, serious accidents, living through a natural disaster, and sudden unexpected loss. [2] The consequences of experiencing such trauma can take the form of post-traumatic stress disorder and a variety of other disorders and symptoms. [3]

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Connections between our psychological world and the natural world

The study of psychology is partially about mental well-being and illness[4], with their causations and methods to help people regain their healthy way of living. Psychological well-being is closely connected with people's living standards. The APA research facility simply puts it this way: psychological well-being is the core feature of mental health, and may be defined as including hedonic (enjoyment, pleasure) and eudaimonic (meaning, fulfillment) happiness, as well as resilience (coping, emotion regulation, healthy problem solving). [4]

When thinking about psychological and mental illness, people tend to link unique personal experiences and later life struggles together, leaving out the damages and possible influences of natural disasters. This may be due to the fact that natural disasters are often experienced in a shared environment, when a significant number of people experienced an event together, sometimes the impacts of such event on each unique individual would be ignored. The world needs to realize that when disasters vary in size, intensity, impact, and the level of response they require, the psychological effects and possible emotional damage also vary in every single individual.

Seeing the ongoing natural disasters around the world on the News and how they impacted people's lives made me think deeper about this topic. People who suffered from traumatic natural disasters would probably be struggling with some common forms of psychological disorders such as PTSD, OCD, and mood disorder. More common negative living factors include a major decrease in life satisfaction, loss of self-efficacy...[5]

With that in mind, the current generation must start to raise awareness of the connection between natural disasters and individuals' psychological well-being. More precisely, past research also showed that exposures to natural man-made and natural disasters were primarily associated with an increased lifetime risk of alcohol abuse disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), major depressive disorder, and an increased lifetime risk of panic disorder. [6]

Closer up cases to look in-depth

PTSD and Earthquakes

PTSD is one of the most common psychological disorders in the world. Even people who are not experts in the subject of psychology would also likely to know it based on common knowledge. PTSD is short for post-traumatic stress disorder, the DSM-5 defines PTSD as "direct or indirect exposure to a traumatic event, followed by symptoms in four categories: intrusion, avoidance, negative changes in thoughts and mood, and changes in arousal and reactivity".[4]

Exposure to major disasters is associated with higher risk contributors of mental health problems, and PTSD is one of the most common related disorders, affecting about one in seven traumatic memories/experiences exposed to children and adolescents (Alisic et al.2014, as cited in [7]).

Earthquake being one of the most commonly known natural disasters, it happened so many times in history and is still ongoing. Geologically speaking, earthquakes happen due to the earth plates' constant movements and scrapes. When powerful earthquakes happen, they can cause landslides, tsunamis, flooding...and death.

In the study of testing PTSD factors and being an earthquake survivor, after running multiple logistic procedures and regressions, the results are very obvious. Death or injury of any family member, property loss, or direct witness of tragic scenes are all associated with elevated odds of PTSD[7].

Another similar study shows the equivalent results, it suggested that having been injured in the earthquake, the severity of parents' wounds, and having witnessed someone buried, wounded, or dying are all higher risk factors for the prevalence of PTSD onset. [5]

Moreover, it is very likely for the survivors to have comorbid conditions with the onset of PTSD, study suggested that participants are very likely to have PTSD comorbid with depression, panic disorders, generalized anxiety disorder, and seasonal affective disorder[7].

OCD and Hurricane Katrina

OCD is short for the obsessive-compulsive disorder, the DSM-5 defines OCD as "(having) recurrent and persistent thoughts, urges, or images that are experienced, at some time during the disturbance, as intrusive and unwanted, and that in most individuals cause marked anxiety or distress".[4]

Hurricane Katrina first was a storm caused by a tropical depression over the Bahamas. Then formed as a tropical cyclone that hit southeastern America in the late summer of 2005. The hurricane and its aftermath showed that there were more than 1800 dead. [8]

In one study about obsessive-compulsive and its related disorders following the Hurricane Katrina, the researchers indicated that children who had onset OCD and related disorders were more likely to have treatment disruptions and psychological disbeliefs following disasters. [9]

Moreover, the study also showed that following the disaster, there is a reduction in refilling prescribed psychotic drugs among children who had pre-existing OCD and related anxiety disorders due to the less accessible/available psychological supports. Children therefore showed more frequent and disturbing obsessive-compulsive behaviours due to the lack of support and the more frequent onset of anxieties that emerged from experiencing the disaster.

Spirituality/Psychotic Symptoms and Suicidality

According to the DSM-5, psychotic symptoms and disorders are but are not limited to schizotypal disorder, delusional disorder, schizophrenia, and substance-induced psychotic disorder. Suicide is conceptualized primarily as "a specific symptom of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), or as a possible negative consequence of other psychiatric diagnoses".[4] Study has found that survivors of a massive earthquake in Italy scored much higher in both PTSD and suicidal ideation, along with behaviours that are considered to be psychotic. [10]

Regardless of all the different types of psychological disorders mentioned above, all survivors who experienced any form of traumatic natural disaster would experience some general loss of self-efficacy, decreases in life satisfaction, and dropped performances in executive functions. [11]

How to re-build psychological well-being

How do people cope with the disasters that impacted their life so negatively? Moving away is one of the options. In that way, people can at least avoid the memorable places and the vivid memories in order to rebuild their lifestyle and regain their life satisfaction...but what if they choose not to move? There is also evidence showing that human beings don't really perform "better" and show a better adjustment if a second disaster were to happen. In case, people who are hit by more than one natural disaster are more likely to form a more problematic adjustment due to their "sensitized" mindset to traumatic experiences. [12]

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Therefore, the current research should focus more on how to regain a stronger sense of responsibility and situational preparedness. We all need to learn to be more psychologically prepared for natural, uncontrollable accidents[13]; both physical preparedness: preparing the property and oneself to stay and defend or leave early; and psychological preparedness - reducing and managing the psychological and emotional impact of the accidents. However, with highly unpredictable natural events, those would be almost impossible to accomplish beforehand.

Other than the self-awareness work we could perform ourselves, seeking social support is considered an important factor influencing an individual's reaction and coping mechanism to stress. [5]

Religion has been recently identified as a psychological and social resource for coping with stress, particularly in the aftermath of mass trauma. [10] It has been seen as a source of comfort and a method of explaining the unknown related factor to a lower risk of PTSD and suicide.

Making connections in the end...

Discussing psychological disorders and natural disasters are like bringing a very old-fashioned topic in their own subject and making a connection. As far as I am concerned with the lack of awareness is such topics, current research should focus more on helping people cope with such traumatic experiences, providing the public with more research-evident based information on how to manage these emotional traumas and how to be more prepared for such events as our planet is reacting negatively more often than usual.

References

  1. ↑ Abhaya S. Prasad, Louis H. Francescutti,Natural Disasters, Editor(s): Stella R. Quah, International Encyclopedia of Public Health (Second Edition), Academic Press, 2017,Pages 215-222, ISBN 9780128037089, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-803678-5.00519-1.
  2. ↑ "Tramua".
  3. ↑ Makwana N. (2019). Disaster and its impact on mental health: A narrative review. Journal of family medicine and primary care, 8(10), 3090–3095. https://doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_893_19
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 American Psychiatric Association. (2013).  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Ma, X., Liu, X., Hu, X., Qiu, C., Wang, Y., Huang, Y., Wang, Q., Zhang, W., & Li, T. (2011). Risk indicators for post-traumatic stress disorder in adolescents exposed to the 512 Wenchuan earthquake in China. Psychiatry Research, 189(3), 385–391. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2010.12.016
  6. ↑ Reifels, L., Mills, K., Dückers, M. L. A., & O’Donnell, M. L. (2019). Psychiatric epidemiology and disaster exposure in Australia. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 28(3), 310–320. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796017000531
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Geng, F., Zhou, Y., Liang, Y., Zheng, X., Li, Y., Chen, X., & Fan, F. (2019). Posttraumatic stress disorder and psychiatric comorbidity among adolescent earthquake survivors: A longitudinal cohort study. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 47(4), 671–681. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-018-0462-2
  8. ↑ "Hurricane Katrina".
  9. ↑ Storch, E. A., Gregory, S., Salloum, A., & Quast, T. (2018). Psychopharmacology utilization among children with anxiety and obsessive–compulsive and related disorders following Hurricane Katrina. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 49(4), 632–642. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-017-0779-z
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Carmassi, C., Stratta, P., Calderani, E., Bertelloni, C. A., Menichini, M., Massimetti, E., Rossi, A., & Dell’Osso, L. (2016). Impact of mood spectrum spirituality and mysticism symptoms on suicidality in earthquake survivors with PTSD. Journal of Religion and Health, 55(2), 641–649. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-015-0072-z
  11. ↑ Yang, R., Xiang, Y., Shuai, L., Qian, Y., Lai, K. Y. C., Ungvari, G. S., Chiu, H. F. K., & Wang, Y. (2014). Executive function in children and adolescents with posttraumatic stress disorder 4 and 12 months after the Sichuan earthquake in China. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 55(1), 31–38. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12089
  12. ↑ Stratta, P., Socci, V., Rossi, A., Carnaghi, G., Talevi, D., Pacitti, F., & Rossi, R. (2021). Multiple natural disaster exposure effects on stress adjustment and resilience in clinical samples. Current Psychology: A Journal for Diverse Perspectives on Diverse Psychological Issues. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01844-y
  13. ↑ J.L. Boylan, C. Lawrence (2020) What does it mean to psychologically prepare for a disaster? A systematic review. Disaster Risk Reduct., 45, p.101480, 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101480


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