Psychological Impacts of Natural Disasters

Disasters are mass traumatic events that involve multiple persons. As such there may be a wide range of people who may be considered “victims” of disaster, including those who nearly escaped death, those who are injured, family members of the deceased, and those who witnessed a catastrophic event. Accumulating evidences indicate that nature disasters can jeopardize severely the well being and normal functioning of the victims. Studies have thoroughly examined the psychological impacts of natural disasters. The most common impacts being Peritraumatic stress reactions, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, complicated grief symptoms, depression, anxiety disorder, substance abuse disorders, distorted perceptions, pessimism, suicidal ideation and attempts. The gravity of such consequences being more pronounced for the children. To combat the impacts of these disasters, the implementation of psychological interventions such as Psychological First Aid, grief counseling, could actually be fruitful. There seems to be many challenges in providing psychosocial support to the victims, such as unawareness, stigma, lack of integration of physical and psychosocial support, and the acute shortage of trained professionals. The real challenge in the current scenario, therefore, is to make psychosocial support, following disaster, a norm and not an exception in the country.