Effects of Natural Disasters on Mental Health

Effects of Natural Disasters on Mental Health

        Natural disasters occur in many places and without a warning. They can range from hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, and more. Some disasters create little to no effect on an individual’s mental health. However, some can create severe mental health issues. These mental health issues that these natural disasters create, last from a couple weeks to years. Natural disasters can lead to depression, PTSD, and anxiety.

        Natural disasters can lead to increased risk of depression. In a study by Cho and Cho, it was discussed that, “Depressive symptoms have been recognized as one of the most frequent complaints among natural disaster survivors” (2). Losing their loved ones, materials, or property can lead to depression. These disasters cause people to grieve for their lost loved ones and if this grieving process lasts a long time, it can lead to depression. Furthermore, they could now become homeless due to the disaster. All these factors can lead to a different magnitude of depression. Depression is different than sadness, it does not go away. People can be surrounded by their loved ones and still feel symptoms of depression. There are five different symptoms that connect to depression: emotional, motivational, behavioral, cognitive, and physical symptoms. Some emotional symptoms would be feeling miserable, empty, and experiencing little pleasure in things they used to enjoy. Lacking drive and initiative are motivational symptoms of depression. Some behavioral symptoms would include being less active and productive. Furthermore, a few cognitive symptoms are, holding negative views of themselves, blaming themselves for unfortunate events, and holding a pessimistic view of life. Lastly, physical symptoms of depression are headaches, dizzy spells, and general pain. Besides depression, PTSD is another effect that disasters have on mental health.

        Natural disasters are highly traumatic for the individuals that experience them. These traumatic events can cause them to experience symptoms of PTSD. These symptoms include reexperiencing the traumatic event, avoidance of trauma linked stimuli, reduced responsiveness, and increased arousal and guilt. An example of reduced responsiveness would be an individual cannot fully come to terms what happened, so they seem out of it. In addition to reduced responsiveness, they could feel guilty because they lived when someone else did not. Natural disasters affect the mental health of people tremendously. Researchers found that survivors of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina had higher rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (Comer 183). An example of avoiding a trauma linked stimuli, a man experiences an earthquake while he sleeps. Due to the earthquake he cannot sleep inside. He avoids going inside to sleep because it reminds him of the traumatic event. He experiences PTSD if this lasts for more than a month and causes distress and impairment. Individuals with PTSD usually need to seek professional help to overcome their trauma.  The last effect of natural disasters on mental health is anxiety.