In the days immediately following Japan’s devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami, survivors were grateful to have lived through it. But disasters that cause such wide-scale death, destruction, and disruption to daily life also leave lingering invisible wounds. Sheila A.M. Rauch, Ph.D., clinical research psychologist with Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System and assistant professor […]
The psychological impact of natural disasters such as the Japan earthquake can be revealed in the way people inherently respond to unpredictable situations, according to a psychology expert at Queen Mary, University of London. Dr. Magda Osman, Psychology Lecturer at Queen Mary, University of London, said the disaster had a devastating immediate effect on tens […]
Imagine having to evacuate your home quickly as 60 mph winds shatter your windows, water crawls under your front door, and the electricity cuts leaving your house as dark as the inside of a coffee can. Would you be prepared? Now visualize being one of the 56 million Americans with a disability, such as wheelchair […]
Disasters – both natural and man-made – can strike anywhere, and they often hit without warning. This makes them difficult to prepare for. But what happens afterward? How do people cope following disasters? In a new report in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, George Bonanno, Chris […]
A study of long-term, active duty military personnel who used Department of Veterans Affairs’ health services showed that childhood maltreatment and other high magnitude stressors, such as being in a serious accident or a natural disaster, were more strongly associated with participants’ current psychiatric symptoms than were their military sexual experiences, such as sexual harassment.
Even as we breathe a sigh of relief watching the rescue of 33 miners trapped in a Chilean mine for more than two months, there is recognition that their recovery from this traumatic experience involves more than just their physical health. Survivors of disasters are at significant risk for such problems as post-traumatic-stress-disorder (PTSD), depression, […]
Feeling safer is a tricky subject, with complications that can be both personal and political. (This topic and others are explored in depth in my interview with New Dimensions.)
Recent Comments