In the face of a traumatic event like floods destroying homes and lives, experiencing anxiety, sadness, hopelessness, difficulty sleeping, fatigue, among other symptoms of distress is pretty expected. What are the psychological and behavioral effects of disaster or other traumatic events? The scope, longevity, and nature of the pandemic distinguish it from more proscribed disaster events, but there are mental health impacts common to all disasters.
Stress and PTSD in the Aftermath of Hurricanes
Learning about trauma raises awareness about a widespread issue and empowers one with tools to help one heal oneself and others. As you seek to identify, define, and explore what trauma means, remember to have self-compassion because learning about trauma can be a challenging process. Reading healing stories about trauma from leading experts can be empowering and inspiring. Psychoeducation can also help you understand your symptoms, which can be a major step toward healing. In addition to traditional psychotherapy, expressive arts, such as creative writing or theater, can help heal trauma.
Helping Children Cope with Traumatic Events
- Below is information on common reactions and how to help children and adolescents after disasters.
- Along with the social and economic losses, the individuals and communities experience a mental instability which might precipitate Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Anxiety and Depression in the population.
- Trauma-focused psychotherapy is one of the most effective things you can do for recovery.
- Training should focus on the awareness of a trauma-informed approach and how it aligns with core processes and expertise relevant to specific disciplines, as well as guidance on how to partner with public and mental health professionals.
It’s normal to experience a wide range of emotions after a disaster. The mental and emotional effects can vary, depending on the type of disaster, the level of destruction, and the types of experiences you’ve had in the past. The suddenness and unpredictability of these events can create a profound sense of vulnerability, shaking the foundations of how safe you feel in your surroundings. Recovery after a natural disaster isn’t simply about rebuilding what’s been lost. The Gooden Center is licensed by the state of California to deliver mental health and substance use disorder residential treatment.
Natural disasters can lead to PTSD. For those who live in hurricane-prone states, you are familiar with the level of frenzy and amount of panic leading up to the arrival of a storm, as well as the residual stress, recovery, and fatigue that remain after the storm. Awareness about the importance of post-intervention techniques and their applicability in the affected population has helped the victims in their recovery. In some cases, recovery is incomplete leading to a number of persistent psychotic symptoms which are often severe in nature. The victims were able to regain hope, had an emotional control on themselves and inculcated environment adaptability, which improved their mental health. The support was direct or indirect, but the effect depended on the genuine support that the affected communities or individuals received from their loved ones, neighbours, friends and other people willing to counsel them, help them and empathize with their emotional aspect.
However, they did not clarify how disasters catalyzed material and psychological changes that affect people’s lives (i.e., the nature and extent of these changes) or how these changes differ between affected individuals. In 2020, approximately 100 million people were affected by disaster events, and these events caused an estimated USD 190 billion in global economic losses 11,12. We conclude by suggesting a direction for future research in terms of measuring the disaster mental health effects in community settings (affected vs. non-affected) and also considering cross-cultural and cross-regional differences. People were more likely to experience psychological distress after exposure to catastrophe occurrence if they had lower income levels, were economically inactive, were https://disasterphilanthropy.org/disasters/2025-us-tornadoes-and-severe-storms/ unemployed, or had pre-existing medical issues 21,22,24,25.
