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The nature of psychiatric problems among disaster victims
Author(s) -
ARAKI KENICHI,
NAKANE YOSHIBUMI,
OHTA YASUYUKI,
KAWASAKI NAOMI
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
psychiatry and clinical neurosciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1440-1819
pISSN - 1323-1316
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1819.1998.tb03256.x
Subject(s) - quarter (canadian coin) , intervention (counseling) , psychiatry , crisis intervention , disaster area , medicine , suicide prevention , psychology , poison control , medical emergency , geography , archaeology , meteorology
One‐quarter of the residents (about 52 000) in the disaster area around the volcanic eruption area of Mt Unzen‐Fugen have been forced to evacuate over a 3 year period. We conducted a psychological controlled study using the GHQ‐30 for evacuees. As a result, the percentage of people with a high score over 8 points was 67% of evacuees, markedly higher than 10% of the control group. Some mental support activities, such as counseling by community nurses and crisis intervention/medication by psychiatrists and others, have been promoted. Subjects who received a psychiatric intervention had good outcome as a whole. The nature of psychiatric problems among disaster evacuees and the necessity of long‐term support are discussed in this paper.