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.
- Social & QoL Behaviors in Parkinson's Diseaseon April 25, 2024 at 4:00 am
Conditions: Parkinson Disease Interventions: Other: No Intervention Sponsors: Gregory Wallace Recruiting
- Prevention of Disability in the Frail Elderly Person Through an Innovative Customised and Multidimensional Training Programmeon April 22, 2024 at 4:00 am
Conditions: Frailty Interventions: Behavioral: Experimental training Sponsors: University of Milan Recruiting
- Evaluation of Invisible Preparation Behaviors of Middle and High School Students in Sports Facilities (PRICELESS)on April 12, 2024 at 4:00 am
Conditions: Sports Injury; Prevention; Training; Hydration; Nutrition; Sleep; Mental Health; Physical Well-Being Sponsors: University Hospital, Brest Recruiting
- The LvL UP Pilot Trialon April 11, 2024 at 4:00 am
Conditions: Health Behavior; Noncommunicable Diseases; Mental Health Issue; Lifestyle Risk Reduction Interventions: Behavioral: LvL UP; Behavioral: LvL UP + MI; Behavioral: Comparison Sponsors: Singapore ETH Centre; ETH Zurich; National University of Singapore; Nanyang Technological University Recruiting
- Psilocybin in Chronic Low Back Pain and Depressionon April 9, 2024 at 4:00 am
Conditions: Chronic Low-back Pain; Depression Interventions: Drug: Psilocybin; Drug: Methylphenidate Sponsors: Johns Hopkins University; National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) Recruiting
- An Open-Label, Single Arm Study of the Efficacy of Accelerated Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation in Schizophrenia Patients With Persistent Negative Symptomson April 8, 2024 at 4:00 am
Conditions: Schizophrenia; Negative Type Interventions: Device: Accelerated iTBS Sponsors: Institute of Mental Health, Singapore Recruiting
- Workplace Based Physiotherapy of Elderly-care Workers With Non-specific Neck Pain.on April 4, 2024 at 4:00 am
Conditions: Neck Pain Interventions: Other: Electrical Stimulation Therapy; Other: Manual Therapy; Other: Exercise Therapeutic Sponsors: Universidad de Extremadura Recruiting
- Biomarkers in Rett Syndromeon April 4, 2024 at 4:00 am
Conditions: Rett Syndrome Interventions: Other: Diagnostic test and behavioral Sponsors: IRCCS Fondazione Stella Maris; Meyer Children's Hospital IRCCS; Azienda USL Toscana Nord Ovest; University of Dublin, Trinity College Recruiting
- The Diagnostic Experience of Male Rett Syndromeon April 3, 2024 at 4:00 am
Conditions: Rett Syndrome; RTT Interventions: Genetic: Male Rett Sponsors: Children's Hospital Colorado; University of Colorado, Denver; Vanderbilt University School of Medicine; University of Alabama at Birmingham; University of Pennsylvania; International Rett Syndrome Foundation; Rocky Mountain Rett Association Recruiting
- Advanced Social Relations Trainingon April 2, 2024 at 4:00 am
Conditions: Autism; Autism Spectrum Disorder Interventions: Other: Advanced social relations training with technical device; Other: Advanced social relations training without technical device Sponsors: Istituto per la Ricerca e l'Innovazione Biomedica; Messina, Italy Recruiting
- Psychological Treatment for Persistent Fatigueon April 2, 2024 at 4:00 am
Conditions: Fatigue; Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic; Exhaustion; Syndrome Interventions: Behavioral: Psychological treatment for persistent fatigue Sponsors: Karolinska Institutet; Forte; The Swedish Research Council; Region Stockholm Recruiting
- Robot-assisted Training After Traumatic Brain Injury and Disorders of Consciousnesson April 2, 2024 at 4:00 am
Conditions: Traumatic Brain Injury; Disorders of Consciousness Interventions: Other: GAIT-assisted training; Other: STEP-assisted training Sponsors: Christina Kruuse 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