Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA.
Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA.
Int Rev Psychiatry. 2022 Feb;34(1):16-25. doi: 10.1080/09540261.2022.2037524. Epub 2022 Feb 15.
Natural disasters are large-scale adverse events resulting from natural processes of the earth, often associated with death, trauma, and destruction of property. They threaten harm or death to a large group of people; cause disruption of services and social networks and a communal loss of resources; and involve identifiable mental and physical health outcomes, among those affected. While majority of individuals who experience a traumatic event due to natural disasters do not develop psychopathology, natural disasters can threaten our psychological well-being in many ways and they can result in both short and long-term psychological distress and thus create a significant burden of mental health conditions on individuals and the community affected by them. In this paper we provide a narrative review that focuses on the mental health effects of natural disasters. We discuss effective, evidence-based interventions that can help enhance the sense of safety, hope, and optimism, as well as serve to promote social connectedness for those who are impacted. We describe how these interventions, developed by keeping in mind the cultural context and the needs of the community, can be provided pre, peri and post-disaster period to improve the adverse mental health effects of the disaster.
自然灾害是地球自然过程导致的大规模不利事件，常伴有人员伤亡、创伤和财产损失。它们对一大群人构成伤害或死亡威胁；导致服务和社会网络中断以及资源的共同损失；并涉及受影响人群中可识别的心理健康结果。虽然大多数因自然灾害而经历创伤事件的个体不会出现精神病理学，但自然灾害可能以多种方式威胁我们的心理健康，它们可能导致短期和长期的心理困扰，从而对受其影响的个人和社区造成重大的心理健康负担。本文提供了一个叙事性综述，重点关注自然灾害对心理健康的影响。我们讨论了有效的、基于证据的干预措施，这些措施可以帮助增强安全感、希望和乐观感，并促进受灾人群的社会联系。我们描述了这些干预措施如何在灾前、灾中和灾后期间，根据文化背景和社区需求进行提供，以改善灾害对不良心理健康的影响。
