Natural disaster and mental health in Asia

Abstract

The purpose of the present article was to review the literature on disaster mental health in relation to natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, typhoons and cyclones throughout Asia. Articles reviewed show that disaster psychiatry in Asia is beginning to emerge from and leave behind the stigma attached to mental health. The emergence of the acceptance of disaster mental health throughout Asia can be attributed in part to the acceptance of the notion of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This has allowed greater involvement of mental health professionals in providing ongoing support to survivors of natural disasters as well as providing greater opportunities for further research. Also, articles reviewed in the present paper commonly suggested the need for using standardized diagnostic tools for PTSD to appropriately interpret the discrepancy of results among studies. The importance of post-disaster support services and cultural differences is highlighted.

The impact of disaster work on community volunteers: The role of peri-traumatic distress, level of personal affectedness, sleep quality and resource loss, on post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms and subjective health

“…Our findings might indicate that the study included more resilient females or that there could be a cultural factor in how symptoms are expressed. It has been suggested that Asian cultures might use somatization as an alternative expression of psychological distress following exposure to traumatic events (Kokai, Fujii, Shinfuku, & Edwards, 2004) and the females have significantly higher subjective health complaints in the current study.…”

Positive and negative postdisaster psychological adjustment among adult survivors of the Southeast Asian earthquake–tsunami

“…Similarly, negative psychological adjustment was also evident among Western [1,2,5] and East Asian earthquake survivors [10][11][12][13][14]. Furthermore, a sizable proportion (34%) of surveyed survivors indicated positive changes in the aftermath of the devastating disaster.…”

Respuesta de los centros de atención primaria en salud mental después del terremoto y tsunami del 2010 en la Región del Maule

“…Se estima que entre 30 y 50% de la población expuesta a un desastre natural sufre alguna manifestación psicológica durante los meses siguientes al evento 2,3 . Las más frecuentes son: el distrés sub-clínico, los trastornos de ansiedad, los trastornos por estrés, la depresión mayor, el aumento del consumo de alcohol y drogas, y los cuadros somatomorfos [4][5][6][7][8] .…”