Rj. Ursano et al., PSYCHIATRIC DIMENSIONS OF DISASTER - PATIENT-CARE, COMMUNITY CONSULTATION, AND PREVENTIVE MEDICINE, Harvard review of psychiatry, 3(4), 1995, pp. 196-209
The majority of persons exposed to a disaster do well and have only mi
ld, transitory symptoms. However, some individuals develop psychiatric
illness postdisaster. Such illnesses include those that are secondary
to physical injury and sickness as well as specific trauma-related ps
ychiatric disorders such as acute stress disorder. The extent of the p
sychiatric morbidity and mortality that develops in individuals in the
community depends on the type of disaster, the degree of injury susta
ined, the amount of life threat, and the duration of community disrupt
ion. In this paper we examine the posttraumatic responses of direct co
ncern to psychiatrists working in a community exposed to a disaster. W
e review the epidemiology of posttraumatic responses, the interface of
psychiatry and traumatic stress, the psychiatric disorders associated
with trauma, and psychiatric consultation to the disaster community.
Overall, psychiatric intervention after a disaster is based on the pri
nciples of preventive medicine and includes community consultation and
outreach programs with the goals of identifying high-risk groups, pro
moting community recovery, and minimizing social disruption.