Mental Health Open Access Articles

 The psychosocial consequences of disasters have been studied for more than 100 years. The most common mental health consequences are depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, medically unexplained somatic symptoms, and stigma. The excess morbidity rate of psychiatric disorders within the first year after a disaster is within the order of 20%. Disasters involving radiation are particularly pernicious because the exposure is invisible and universally dreaded, and may pose a long-term threat to health. After the Chernobyl disaster, studies of clean-up workers (liquidators) and adults from contaminated areas found a two-fold increase in post-traumatic stress and other mood and anxiety disorders and significantly poorer subjective ratings of health. Among liquidators, the most important risk factor was severity of exposure. In general population samples, the major risk factor was perceived exposure to harmful levels of radiation. These findings are according to results from A-bomb survivors and populations studied after the Three Mile Island atomic power plant accident. Thus, supported the studies of adults, the Chernobyl Forum concluded that psychological state was the most important public ill health unleashed by the accident.  Moreover, given the comorbidity of mental and physical health, the findings support the value of training non-psychiatrist physicians in recognizing and treating common mental health problems like depression in Fukushima patients.  

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