Taking care of your physical health can be a powerful way to support your emotional well-being. Support groups or community organizations that offer space for individuals to share their stories can help normalize feelings of distress and foster a sense of solidarity. Connecting with others who have experienced similar trauma can be incredibly healing. Suppressing emotions can lead to more significant mental health struggles down the road. Individuals with PTSD may avoid places, people, or situations that remind them of the disaster.

As mentioned before, PTSD is regarded as the signature psychopathology of disaster mental health consequences 3,52,101,102. In the 1980s and 1990s, several well-designed studies were conducted that provided the first extensive data on the prevalence of PTSD and other psychological problems among disaster-exposed populations . The methods of the earliest disaster studies were largely based on observation, anecdote, and clinical interviews combined with symptom questionnaires or psychological tests . As stated earlier, mental problems that are most likely to develop after a disaster are PTSD, depression, and anxiety . The psychological impact of disaster begins immediately after the event and may persist for months and sometimes even years .

Mental Health Disorders Due to Disaster Exposure: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

As with the COVID-19 pandemic, these populations were hit hard; they felt the effects of the disaster most intensely (Fussel et al., 2010; Zoraster, 2010). The disaster led to 1,833 deaths, destroyed homes and businesses, and caused an estimated 125 billion dollars in overall damages (EM-DAT, 2021). Recovery from disaster is an ongoing, complex, and highly individual process that demands an immense amount of effort from affected individuals. Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in https://disasterphilanthropy.org/disasters/2025-us-tornadoes-and-severe-storms/ the study. For instance, decisions on where to relocate healthcare services or grocery stores may hinder equitable access. Provide meaningful alternatives in an accessible language to enable community participation and direction.

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These reactions may be relatively common in the 6-12-month period after a disaster (9) and have been shown across a range of events. Negative emotions such as anger or fear, perceived stress, physical health problems/somatic concerns, and poor sleep quality are also reported in disaster research (1-8). Community rebuilding and psychological first aid can also be extremely helpful in people’s resilience and rehabilitation, Lowe says. After the Northern California firestorm in October 2017, for example, the number of people seeking mental health resources in Sonoma County nearly doubled. The trauma of witnessing the destruction of one’s home and losing pets and loved ones can also give rise to anxiety and depression.

• Humans are resilient; most people adjust over time after a disaster.
• The three main mental health illness attributed to the disaster catastrophe in most studies were anxiety, GAD, and PTSD 19-22,24,25,32,37-40.
• They must cope with the disaster itself and the aftermath of finding a new place to live or repairing their home.
• It can be a common reaction to replay events, questioning decisions or circumstances that led to their safety.

It can be a common reaction to replay events, questioning decisions or circumstances that led to their safety. Survivor’s guilt is complex and can be an overwhelming response characterized by feelings of sadness and anxiety for having survived a disaster relatively unscathed while others did not. Survivors of other disasters have described similar reactions.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and trauma-focused therapies are all proven approaches for treating trauma. These physical symptoms can, in turn, exacerbate the emotional pain. People may feel overwhelmed by their inability to control the situation or the long-term recovery process.