What is Disaster Mental Health?
Disaster mental health refers to mental health services for victims, first responders, and medical personnel who experience disaster. Disaster can include a wide variety of sudden, catastrophic events that cause loss of life, such as an earthquake, a terrorist attack, or even a global pandemic.
What Conditions Are Associated With Disaster Mental Health?
Traumatic experiences during disaster can produce a variety of mental health conditions that last long after danger ends. Some of these may be related to neurological changes produced by long periods of “fight or flight.”
One of the most prominent conditions associated with disaster mental health is PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.) Once thought common only in military conflict, it is now understood PTSD can come from any intense experience of danger that provokes feelings of helplessness.

PTSD can have symptoms including flashbacks, memory loss (especially in relation to the traumatic event), anxiety, depression, difficulty sleeping, nightmares, and angry outbursts. The vast majority of PTSD sufferers are nonviolent and pose no threat to others.
Anxiety and depression are typical complications from any disaster. Both adults and children may feel guilty, believing they “should have done more.” Emotional flashbacks in which the sufferer re-experiences negative emotions without “seeing” or “hearing” the event, are common.
Disaster Mental Health Recovery and Lifestyle Changes
Disaster mental health treatment often includes a combination of medication and therapy. Medication focuses on reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression. Therapy can be in a group or one-on-one setting. Its primary goal is to help a sufferer process trauma.
One of the biggest challenges in disaster mental health care is the difficulty sufferers face verbalizing their experiences. Processing the emotions that come from trauma help reduce their effect on a person’s life. Novel approaches such as art therapy help many individuals express trauma in a way that helps. Techniques like journaling may also be used.
Disaster mental health patients need to identify psychological triggers in their environment. These triggers can cause them to re-experience the emotions or sensations of a past trauma. At first, recognizing and avoiding such triggers is advisable. With professional help, it’s possible to overcome the negative associations of triggers in a controlled environment.
Disaster Mental Health Research

Disaster mental health has been a prominent concern in psychology for decades. As researchers have uncovered effects of trauma on the brain, it has become clear profound neurological changes can occur during disaster even if one is not physically harmed.
Disaster mental health research focuses on two main areas: Reduction and treatment. Reduction aims to equip at-risk populations, like police and EMTs, with coping strategies to manage trauma. Treatment focuses on the neurobiology of trauma, creating better clinical resources for disaster mental health.
Why is Further Disaster Mental Health Research Necessary?
Millions of people all around the world are affected by mental health issues arising from disaster. The lessons of disaster mental health apply to everything from the COVID-19 outbreak to individual experiences of sexual assault or other criminal violence. With that in mind, all disaster mental health research has potential to help a broad spectrum of the population.
Disaster Mental Health Clinical Trials
This list contains all disaster mental health clinical trials on record at ClinicalTrials.gov. To feature a clinical trial on our site, contact us.
- Safety and Efficacy of Cannabidiol (CBD) for Symptoms of PTSD in Adultson May 28, 2025 at 4:00 am
Conditions: PTSD Interventions: Drug: Cannabidiol Administered as Nantheia ATL5; Drug: Placebo Sponsors: University of Nebraska; Ananda Scientific Inc; University of Texas at Austin Recruiting
- Examining the Effectiveness of Exercise Training After Cervical Laminoplasty Surgeryon May 28, 2025 at 4:00 am
Conditions: Cervical Spine Disease; Surgery; Rehabilitation; Exercise Interventions: Other: Stabilization Exercises; Other: Standard Exercises Sponsors: Izmir Katip Celebi University Recruiting
- Performance and Safety of LightForce® Therapy Lasers on Lateral Ankle Sprainon May 28, 2025 at 4:00 am
Conditions: Ankle Sprain 1St Degree; Ankle Sprain 2Nd Degree; Acute Pain Interventions: Device: Sham Laser therapy; Device: Laser therapy; Other: RICE and physiotherapy/exercise protocol Sponsors: DJO UK Ltd Recruiting
- Screening for Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) and Cognitive Function in Individuals With History of Strokeon May 28, 2025 at 4:00 am
Conditions: Stroke; Brain Disease; Vascular Diseases; Cerebrovascular Disorder Sponsors: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Recruiting
- Using the Multiphase Optimization Strategy to Adapt Cognitive Processing Therapyon May 28, 2025 at 4:00 am
Conditions: Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic Interventions: Behavioral: Modified A-B-C: Working with Events, Thoughts, and Feelings; Behavioral: Challenging Questions; Behavioral: Patterns of Problematic Thinking; Behavioral: Challenging Beliefs; Behavioral: Veteran's choice of Module (Safety/Trust/Power and Control/Esteem/Intimacy) Sponsors: VA Office of Research and Development Recruiting
- Characterization of Nociception Phenotype in Individuals With Intellectual Disabilityon May 28, 2025 at 4:00 am
Conditions: Intellectual Disability Interventions: Device: TSA2 Thermosensory Stimulator Sponsors: National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC) Recruiting
- Supporting Treatment Access and Recovery in CODon May 28, 2025 at 4:00 am
Conditions: Opioid Use Disorder; Mental Health Disorder Interventions: Other: Medication for Opioid Use Disorder; Behavioral: MISSION Critical Time Intervention; Behavioral: MISSION Peer Support; Behavioral: MISSION Dual Recovery Therapy Sponsors: University of Massachusetts, Worcester; National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH); University of Massachusetts, Lowell; Cornell University; Harvard Medical School (HMS and HSDM) Recruiting
- Time Pressure Motor Training With Step Square Exercise on Stroke Patientson May 25, 2025 at 4:00 am
Conditions: Stroke Interventions: Other: time pressure; Other: step square exercise; Other: functional care training Sponsors: October 6 University Recruiting
- Efficacy of Intradiscal Injection of Autologous BM-MSC in Subjects With Chronic LBP Due to Multilevel Lumbar IDDon May 25, 2025 at 4:00 am
Conditions: Intervertebral Disc Degeneration; Chronic Low-back Pain Interventions: Drug: Autologous BM-MSC; Procedure: Sham Sponsors: Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Campus Bio-Medico; Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico; Center for Outcomes Research and Clinical Epidemiology, Italy Recruiting
- Open-Label Psilocybin Study in Transdiagnostic Populationon May 25, 2025 at 4:00 am
Conditions: Transdiagnostic; Depression - Major Depressive Disorder; Anxiety; PTSD Symptoms; PTSD; Substance Use; Substance Use Disorder (SUD); OCD Interventions: Drug: Psilocybin Sponsors: Yale University; Usona Institute Recruiting
- Effectiveness of a Digital Platform in Engagement and Prognosis of Patients in an Early Intervention Pychosis Programmeon May 25, 2025 at 4:00 am
Conditions: Device Adherence Interventions: Device: PIPPEP App Sponsors: Fundació Sant Joan de Déu; Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu Recruiting
- Clinical Study of Regulatory T Cells (Tregs) in the Treatment of Neurodegenerative Diseaseson May 25, 2025 at 4:00 am
Conditions: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS); Alzheimer's Disease(AD); Multiple System Atrophy, MSA Interventions: Biological: Autologous Human Polyclonal Regulatory T Cells Injection (NP001 Cell Injection) Sponsors: Novabio Therapeutics; The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University Recruiting
Conclusion
With more people experiencing disaster, stigma around seeking disaster mental health treatment is beginning to fade. Disaster mental health clinical resources will depend on active clinical trials that uncover further information about the brain’s trauma response. Further medical research may help millions of people reclaim their sense of stability.
Sources
- https://www.phe.gov/Preparedness/planning/abc/Pages/disaster-behavioral.aspx
- https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325578
- https://www.rainn.org/articles/flashbacks
- https://emergency.cdc.gov/coping/index.asp
- https://www.mhanational.org/coping-disaster
- https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/what-are-treatments-for-posttraumatic-stress-disorder
- https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand_tx/tx_basics.asp