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Mental health and stress-related disorders
Research has shown that the effects of extreme weather events can also have a negative impact on the mental health of many people, and these effects can accompany sufferers for medium to long periods. Patients with previous or ongoing mental illness and those suffering from high levels of anxiety, depression or dementia are the most vulnerable. But health problems, especially mental problems that may emerge after environmental and climatic disasters, can also affect people who have never suffered from previous illnesses.
In any case, post-traumatic stress disorders related to disastrous natural events are the most widespread among the affected populations. One example is Hurricane Katrina, one of the most violent Atlantic hurricanes wich hit the US coast in August 2005 and caused 1833 deaths; almost half of the affected population developed various forms of anxiety disorders and about a quarter developed severe post-traumatic stress disorder. Mental disorders diminish in intensity over time, but it can take several years before this happens.
Pre-existing states of poverty, loss of property (home, dwelling, job, etc.) but, above all, physical harm and loss of family members and acquaintances due to environmental and climatic disasters such as landslides, floods, heat waves and fires are all potential triggers for mental health disorders. The forced migration of certain populations is a typical example: it often creates considerable negative effects on people’s state of health, both mental and physical; unfortunately, we are beginning to speak of increasingly frequent situations due to the increase in the number of violent climatic events to which humanity has been subjected for decades.
Improving the provision of post-disaster mental health services (through targeted psychological support); increasing and speeding up insurance compensation procedures for economic losses and, more generally, strengthening social support networks are undoubtedly the best responses to be adopted in order to curb and prevent these dangerous inconveniences. These preventive and supportive measures are very important: mental illness is a serious social problem that must be reduced as much as possible.
