The effect of flooding on mental health: Lessons learned for building resilience

Abstract

Risk management and climate adaptation literature focuses mainly on reducing the impacts of, exposure to, and vulnerability to extreme events such as floods and droughts. Posttraumatic stress disorder is one of the most important impacts related to these events, but also a relatively under‐researched topic outside original psychopathological contexts. We conduct a survey to investigate the mental stress caused by floods. We focus on hydrological, individual, and collective drivers of posttraumatic stress. We assess stress with flood‐specific health scores and the GHQ‐12 General Health Questionnaire. Our findings show that the combination of water depth and flood velocity measured via a Hazard Class Index is an important stressor; and that mental health resilience can be significantly improved by providing the population with adequate information. More specifically, the paper shows that psychological distress can be reduced by (i) coordinating awareness of flood risks and flood protection and prevention behavior; (ii) developing the ability to protect oneself from physical, material and intangible damage; (iii) designing simple insurance procedures and protocols for fast recovery; and (iv) learning from previous experiences.

Flash floods versus river floods – a comparison of psychological impacts and implications for precautionary behaviour

“…denial and distraction). Moreover, a comprehensive review of Fernandez et al (2015) on flood-related mental health issues as well as Foudi et al (2017) strongly supports the assumption that, in cases of flood exposure, especially water depth and high flow velocities have a negative impact on mental health in terms of increased levels of PTSD, anxiety and depression. This is also supported by Lamond et al (2015), who suggest that psychological symptoms such as stress and anxiety remain as a result of severe flooding and flood damage.…”

“…J. Laudan et al: Flash floods versus river floods -a comparison of psychological impacts and implications floods can also cause serious injuries and fatalities (Gaume et al, 2009). Therefore, the occurrence of the severe flash floods across Germany in 2016, outside alpine regions, can be described as unexpected.…”

“…The first hypothesis is based on the evidence given by Gaume et al (2009), Mason et al (2010), Lamond et al (2015) and Foudi et al (2017) and is tested by comparing psychological characteristics of people which are affected by different flood types and strengths. Thus, groups of similar psychological characteristics (psychological indicators) are created.…”

Sociodemographic predictors of residents worry about contaminated sites

“…Personal resilience may be a protective factor that can reduce the negative effects of worry and prevent the onset of mental health disorders (Beesdo et al, 2010). In this context resilience is defined as "the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress" (American Psychological Association, 2018), and is a critical factor in how people respond to environmental hazard (Cutter, 2008;Foudi et al, 2017). Consequently, it is important to recognise that people have different levels of psychological resilience and ways of coping with environmental hazards due to individual differences (Bonanno et al, 2010), and some people will need more targeted support to manage living with environmental contamination.…”

We can help us: Does Community Resilience Buffer Against the Negative Impact of Flooding on Mental Health?

“…Flood characteristics refer to the severity of exposure or perceived severity of losses. Not surprisingly, severe negative flooding experiences like high property losses or the need to relocation are associated with poorer mental health outcomes (Bubeck and Thieken, 2018;Fernandez et al, 2015;Foudi et al, 2017;Mason et al, 2010), Social factors refer to general or hazard-related social structures (e.g. flood action groups; (Dittrich et al, 2016) which generate the social support needed to cope with losses due to flooding (Bubeck and Thieken, 2018).…”