Natural disasters have changed the world as we know it several times. Whether it’s an apocalyptic flood or an earthquake strong enough to level cities, recorded disasters have wreaked havoc for centuries. From nuclear radiation leaks to thousands of dollars in damages, Mother Nature has a funny way of reminding us who is in control.
However, we sometimes forget to acknowledge the latent issues that these disasters cause. The destroyed cars, leveled buildings, and the death count is one thing, but how often do we think about the emotional stress? For some people, these events could cause trauma to last a lifetime. The uncertainty of these events makes processing their occurrences that much harder. This article aims to talk about some common ways that natural calamities affect our mental health in different ways.
This article may be slightly stressful for some people to process. However, it raises awareness about real issues we don’t always consider. With that said, here are five ways natural disasters affect our mental health.
- PTSD
Thousands of people silently suffer from trauma from natural disasters they never saw coming. Not only does this put people in a higher sense of anxiety, but it can be crippling on anniversaries of the traumatic event. Remembrance days or memorials can be hard to process and cause the person to feel emotions and flashbacks.
Other than that, there is a generalized lack of trust in the relevant departments after such situations. Many people who suffer through these times believe that the care, first responders, and support could have been managed better. Fortunately, disaster management organizations are actively working to improve their disaster response and preparedness tactics. Amidst these tactics are training and developing their workforce. For this purpose, most organizations are also encouraging their workers to pursue the online disaster management masters degree to upskill and remain abreast of changing protocols and disaster management strategies. They emphasize online degrees mainly because of the convenience they offer.
The more trained first responders there are, the more likely the situation will be handled better.
- Poverty and prevalent depression
In natural disasters, thousands of people lose their homes, cars, and personal belongings. There are further thousands who sustain serious injuries which put them out of work. It creates a major imbalance and causes extreme financial damage to them and their families. Once you lose everything through a freak storm or earthquake, it’s fairly hard to bounce back.
Poverty, displacement, and lack of security can cause severe depression in some people. Many people believe nothing is left in their lives and something like this can happen again. For people who spent their entire lives building their homes, to have it snatched away in minutes is an extremely damaging blow.
Many people never insure their cars or houses and later suffer. It can take a depressive toll on the average person to know that your hard earned money and labor got taken away so soon.
- Psychosis
The shock from it all can cause some serious issues for many people. The same principle as PTSD, some people can become numb to the occurrence and suffer major manic and psychotic episodes due to the trauma. Psychosis is one of the worst mental illnesses known to modern psychology. The treatment of the illnesses is fairly drawn out, and the chances for relapse always exist well after remission.
Mania, Psychosis, and PTSD all occur together and can be hard to differentiate, but they are majorly different.
Psychosis can cause the person to experience delusions of reality and hallucinations of various kinds. The reality impairment they face can be extremely difficult to manage, as they are already dealing with so much. It’s hard enough to deal with your car or house being destroyed, then having to cope with a loved one suffering from reality impairments is extremely challenging.
- Obsessions and negative thinking patterns
Again, unexpected occurrences can leave people worried, confused, and waiting for the next disaster. It’s especially true for people who have suffered earthquakes and remain waiting for aftershocks. Some people wait and expect the next event, alter their lives to try and prevent such an occurrence, and generally spiral into negative thoughts after such events.
Obsessions and compulsive behavior are also common to protect themselves from falling victim again. Some people actively fortify rooms, build bunkers, or install banks outside their homes.
It may seem wise at first, but the entire gist of natural disasters is that they are hard to predict and can occur at any time. Therefore, obsessing and trying to find the best way to protect yourself may not be possible.
- Hoarding behavior
Some people may begin to store items and belongings for several reasons obsessively. They see these items as potentially helpful for them in the future if a disaster occurs again. Other times they develop strong emotional sentiments for the items and belongings after losing similar belongings in a previous disaster. These compensatory behaviors can leave some homes looking cramped and untidy.
Hoarding, again, acts as a sub-type of obsessive behavior that can severely impede a person’s logical reasoning and social functioning. In some cases, hoarding behavior can spiral out of control to the point where there isn’t enough space in the house to hold all the belongings.
It is understandable why some people behave this way after a natural disaster, but the fact remains that these behaviors are personally damaging and need to be corrected with psychotherapy.
Conclusion
The shock of a natural disaster can leave a country and its people reeling for years, sometimes decades. Understanding the ongoing psychological issues it causes is one of the most important things we must do on the road to recovery. This article aimed to raise awareness of common mental health issues a natural disaster can cause.
A common trend you may take away from this article is trauma and obsession with the next disaster. Other factors and manifestations build on the current issues in one way or another. You must understand the sheer shock and toll this can take on a person, especially when you don’t see it coming.