isaster 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.
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 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 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.
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.
This list contains all disaster mental health clinical trials on record at ClinicalTrials.gov. To feature a clinical trial on our site, contact us.
Conditions: Congenital Heart Disease; ICF; Quality of LifeIntervention: Other: Physiotherapy assessmentSponsor: Hacettepe UniversityRecruiting
Conditions: Development, Infant; Development, Language; Developmental Language Disorder; Learning DisabilitiesInterventions: Other: Electrophysiological recording; Behavioral: Behavioral assessmentSponsor: IRCCS Eugenio MedeaRecruiting
Condition: Encephalopathy, Hypoxic IschemicIntervention: Diagnostic Test: Clinical and instrumental neurological assessmentSponsor: Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCSRecruiting
Conditions: Down Syndrome; Intellectual DisabilityIntervention: Other: Biological samplingsSponsor: Institut Jerome LejeuneRecruiting
Condition: Depressive DisorderInterventions: Drug: Rivastigmine Transdermal Product; Other: ShamSponsors: UMC Utrecht; ZonMw: The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development; St. Antonius Hospital; Tergooi HospitalRecruiting
Condition: Bipolar DisorderInterventions: Other: Probiotic Group; Other: Placebo GroupSponsors: University of Sao Paulo; Baszucki Brain Research Fund; Milken InstituteRecruiting
Condition: Low Back PainInterventions: Behavioral: T'ai Chi and Qigong Rehabilitation; Other: Usual careSponsors: New York Presbyterian Hospital; Center for Taiji and Qigong Studies & Wa-Qi.comRecruiting
Conditions: Learning Disability, Adult; Mental Distress; Art Therapy; Art PsychotherapyInterventions: Other: Ethnographically-informed group observation; Other: Semi-structured Interviews; Other: Focus GroupSponsors: Queen Mary University of London; Barts & The London NHS Trust; East London NHS Foundation TrustRecruiting
Condition: Amyotrophic Lateral SclerosisInterventions: Diagnostic Test: Skin biopsy; Diagnostic Test: Cardiovascular Reflexes testing; Diagnostic Test: Administration of clinical scales evaluating autonomic symptoms, pain small fiber neuropathy symptoms; Diagnostic Test: Dinamic Sweat TestSponsor: Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri SpARecruiting
Condition: Emotion RegulationIntervention: Behavioral: Emotion Regulation CourseSponsors: University of Cyprus; VU University of Amsterdam; University of Crete; Eotvos Lorand UniversityRecruiting
Conditions: Intellectual Disability; Speech and Language DisorderIntervention: Behavioral: Early Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) InterventionSponsors: Oregon Health and Science University; Florida State UniversityRecruiting
Condition: Post Traumatic Stress DisorderInterventions: Drug: Methylone; Drug: PlaceboSponsor: Transcend TherapeuticsRecruiting
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.