Natural disasters and emergencies are events that cause harm to human societies affecting millions of families across the globe. Disasters and emergencies usually exist in different forms, indicating that their impacts on people vary based on gender, geographical location, and age. For instance, catastrophic events such as floods and earthquake are classified as natural disasters. In situations where criminals organize terror attacks, it is classified as human facilitated emergencies. The natural and technological emergencies and disasters cause damage to property, injuries, and death thus exposing survivors of such events to insecurity issues and psychological issues. People of different ages experience different impacts of disasters and emergencies, thus calling for a need for intervention mechanisms to help victims in recovering from the consequences of disasters and emergencies. The different types of accidents and emergencies cause post-traumatic stress disorder to victims which vary depending on age. Because people respond and react differently to emergencies and disasters, it is essential to identify how an individual recovers from that experience.
Different Types of Emergencies and Disasters
Successful preparedness and responsive to the effects of disasters and emergencies depends on the different types of accidents and emergencies that affect people in different geographical locations. This information indicates that personal recovery process needs to match the kind of disaster that an individual experiences. According to Reed (2011), disasters and emergencies that face people in a community can either be categorized as natural, technological, social, or sophisticated disasters and failed states. Natural disaster originates from environmental impacts resulting in tragedy events capable of affecting the lives of people. For instance, events such as volcanoes, earthquakes, heavy rains, and drought affect the lives of people in localized through death, damage of property, and injuries which exceed to emotional impacts on the affected population. As a result, disaster services should be provided and integrated carefully with healthcare centers located in areas that are vulnerable to the consequences of the natural disaster. For example, the flooding disaster that occurred in England in the year 2007 affected people in different parts of the country, causing long term impacts on the population (McFarlane & Williams, 2012). This information indicates that the effects of natural disasters cannot be ignored.
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Technological disasters cover all the different types of emergencies that occur as a result of the failure of structures and materials constructed through the use of human knowledge. Human creativity has resulted in the construction of buildings, bridges, and transport systems to improve the lives of people. However, the development of such buildings and structures becomes a source of psychological impact in situations where they fail to function to function to the expectations. As a result, disaster and emergency preparedness team should consider the safety of people and property in situations where they use features made human technology. In an event where a technology disaster occurs, the impacts exceed across different regions affecting areas a distance far from the community where the event occurs. For instance, the Clapham rail disaster in London affected people from far counties, calling for a need for large scale disaster management plan (McFarlane & Williams, 2012). This information indicates that there is a need for collaboration of different institutions and regions in an attempt to minimize the effects of technological disaster and emergence.
Social and complex disasters and failed states result in the creation of emergencies likely to cause death, injuries, and loss of property. Social activities such as terrorism, riots, conflict, and wars expose a large population of society to psychological issues. In an incidence of war, people lose their friends, and they are exposed to torture, making it difficult for the survivors to cope with emotional challenges (Reed, 2011). If the conditions are left untreated, they may end up experiencing complications such as post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. In an event where social and complex state disasters occur, they affect people from different regions, thus calling for a need for considering individual recovery process. For example, the terrorist attacks that occurred in New York on September 11 posed a challenge to the recovery process because the attack affected people from local communities, tourists, and international business people (McFarlane & Williams, 2012). A successful recovery process should have been established to cover the interests of people from different backgrounds to minimize adverse effects associated with the attack.
Differences between the Psychological Effects of Emergencies and Disasters on Different Ages
Psychological resilient programs for emotional impacts of disasters and emergencies should focus on age differences. According to Rafiey et al., (2016), post-disaster or emergence stress declines with an increase in age. This information indicates that the occurrence of either man-made or natural disasters affect older people in a way that is significantly different from that of children. These differences are attributable to different experiencing that help the aging population to cope with stressful in life. As a result, the effects of disasters and emergencies on children, young adults, and older adults react differently to such events. This information indicates that young children are likely to experience severe traumatic events compared to young adults and older people. Children are classified as those with age between birth and 18 years, while young adults range between 18 and 30 years.
Maturation and inoculation theories explain the reasons as to why older adults are less emotionally reactive to post-disaster and emergency stress. Older adults between 60 and 85 years possess significant higher means for adjusting to the emotional and psychological effects that arise from the occurrence of disasters and emergencies. For instance, at an older age, people have experienced several hazards, such as earthquakes, floods, and terrorist activities. Though the first experience of disasters may have caused mental impacts on the health of young adults, people identify mechanisms for responding to such incidences if they occur in the future. For instance, a study that focused on the recovery for people affected by the earthquake that happened in America in the year 1988 revealed that most of the elderly people recovered from mental impacts after 18 months earlier than young adult counterparts (Rafiey et al., 2016). This difference is attributable to experience that enabled older adults to cope with damages associated with disasters and emergencies, thus making it possible to adapt to psychological recovery approach.
Population aged above 64 years is more resilient than young adults at an average of 26 year and children. Disaster and emergencies appear to cause severe injuries and psychological impacts because of economic issues and reduced mobility that could increase the level of safety among individuals. However, older adults are less vulnerable to mental challenges associated with the occurrence of a disaster or an emergency in the society. According to research conducted by Seddighi et al., (2019), economic status affects the level of investment on emotional regulation programs. Older people have investments and less expenditure, thus creating an opportunity for diverting more resources to a psychological recovery process capable of reducing post-traumatic stress disorder associated with disasters and emergencies.
Young adults and children are likely to escape from severe effects of disasters and emergencies in a community. However, survivors experience long term psychological impacts compared to older adults. Differences in response to mental recovery strategies are associated various factors such as the intensity of the disaster, availability of caregivers to children, and availability of resources needed in seeking medical intervention (McFarlane & Williams, 2012). In most cases, children and young adults are in a position to escape the impact of disasters and emergencies. However, children below the age of 18 years rely on resources provided by parents making it difficult to pursue psychological recovery process without guardian’s assistance (n.d.). For instance, 23% of the population in the United States consists of children. In effect, most of the people affected by tragedy events are young population thus calling for a need for establishing resilient programs depending on age.
Mental Health Treatments for Disasters and Emergencies
Disaster and emergencies cause different types of mental challenges that call for a need for involving professionals. In effect, people experience levels of losses, thus creating demand for different mental treatments. For instance, victims of disaster or emergency may experience trauma- and stressor-related disorders. These challenges result in the creation of acute and post-traumatic stress disorder during, after, and life stress. For instance, the occurrence of earthquake in Armenia recorded 250, 000 deaths in the year 1988 leaving the survivors with traumatic diseases that required intervention to help such people recover from stress (Cohen, 2002). If the conditions are left untreated, they cause severe issues such as interfering with the health of the individual. For instance, victims continue experiencing sleep-wake challenges that affect the ability of people to get enough sleep. The condition may also lead to the creation of eating and feeding disorders to the affected individuals. This information indicates that professionals need to be in a place to identify the different mental disorders experienced by victims, thus offering a timely intervention approach.
Disasters and emergencies also cause dissociate-disorders among the victims because of the feelings and thoughts they have after the loss of property. In an event where disaster and emergencies occur in a community, people experience stress, change their, ideas, and feelings thus creating a need for professionals to intervene. Survivors experience all forms of stress, such as post-traumatic stress disorder and trauma (Math et al., 2015). The effects originated from different activities that they experience, such as economic losses and loss of property, thus subjecting such people to poverty. Overthinking and exposure to various thinking issues may result in the creation of Neurocognitive disorders. This issue le the creation of activities such as creates a situation where an individual is unable to reason and make right judgments in life. Professionals help such people to recover through the application of physiological and pharmacological intervention mechanisms that have been put in place.
Trauma Intervention Mechanisms for People Affected By Disasters and Emergencies
Psychological interventions
Treatment for mental health impacts occurs in different phases depending on the intensity of the disaster or emergency. Disaster and emergency events cause social, economic, and health impacts on people, thus causing psychological effects. Victims and survivors for disaster events experience different levels of the psychological effects, therefore, calling for a need for different treatment approaches. This information indicates that the response and treatment for the victims of events begin with constructing shelters, treating the injured population, and burying the dead (Math et al., 2015). This phase plays an essential role in reducing psychological issues that would arise from the loss of close ones, property, and injuries. Restoration of people to their economic status and provision of community support improves the living standards of the people. After some days, the response and recovery process considers the effects of the survivors and assess the intensity of the events. The information is applied to create awareness of the psychological issues people are likely to experience.
Mental health treatment for disaster and emergence involves post-disaster crisis counseling process as a successful intervention mechanism for reducing psychological effects. The objective of post-disaster counseling is to create awareness that problems experienced by survivors are usual, and they need to cope with the situation (Reed, 2011). The activities are organized in groups and communities depending on factors such as age, marital status, and nature loss experienced. Implementation of the counseling intervention mechanisms requires professionals and victims to understand the types of stress experienced by people in the target group. For instance, disasters caused stress, difficulty in sleeping, and aggressive reactions are some of the signs professionals observe when offering counseling programs. Successful counseling approaches require professionals to exercise person configuration approach because victims of disaster and emergency activities experience different levels for psychological operations.
Psychological debriefing also plays an essential role in creating awareness among the victims about the usual reaction that they have as a result of experiencing a traumatic event. This intervention approach informs the clients about the effects that they experience and encourage such people to share experiences and challenges they encounter. This type of intervention is offered in a single session, and professionals should apply this approach after hours or days of the occurrence of a disaster (Berkman et al., 2015). Critical incident stress debriefing is the common psychological intervention approach that targets people experiencing trauma though they were not directly involved in the event. For instance, firefighters may develop shock as a result of watching the losses and injuries experienced by the direct victims of the incident.
Additionally, exposure-based therapy and cognitive restructuring are also applied in an attempt of addressing post-traumatic stress. Exposure based treatment requires professionals to expose victims to event stimuli to reduce the level of anxiety experienced by the victim (Berkman et al., 2015). The exposure-based treatment creates imagery obtained from the memory or scenes that are likely to act as sources for stimuli. Victims are exposed to the stimuli until they show signs of a reduced level of stress and anxiety. Cognitive restructuring calls for a need of understanding the victim’s interpretation of the event, thus providing an intervention approach based on the personal description of the type of e. The primary objective for cognitive restructuring is promoting relearning and increasing an opportunity for people to create a different perception of the event that resulted in the loss of property and life.
Pharmacological Intervention
Pharmacological intervention uses drugs capable of addressing physiologic issues affecting the survivors. In an event for disasters, people experience different levels of mental impact. In effect, some of the survivors compel professionals to involve both psychotherapy intervention and drug substances to help people with difficulties in recovering from stress. According to Cohen (2002), Antidepressant medication approach is given by professionals to survivors to lower the levels of sleep disturbances and aggressive reactions that would result in worse conditions on the affected individual. Psychiatric professionals engage in research to identify other substances that can be administered in an attempt to manage stress symptoms shown by survivors of disasters. For instance, large scale experiments have been conducted in the United States to identify the effectiveness of selective serotonin in inhibiting the occurrence of stress and post-traumatic stress disorders (Cohen, 2002). In situations where the condition worsens, hospitalization of the victims is applied to keep close monitoring of the effects of drugs on reducing sources of mental illness approaches. As a result, post-traumatic intervention is classified into either psychological or pharmacological strategies.
People respond and react differently to emergencies and disasters, thus calling for a need for identifying an intervention mechanism that serves the interests of each victim. Differences are associated with the level of age, economic damage, and availability for people to provide support to survivors. Psychological effects of disaster and emergency events decline with an increase in age. As a result, the elderly population with more than 60 years is likely to experience low psychological events and recover from post-traumatic stress easily than young adults. The difference is attributable to the difference in the level of investment in the recovery process and experience in handling disasters and emergence. The different types of accidents also have different impacts on the lives of people, thus calling for a need for intervention mechanisms that suit every kind of disaster. However, various mental treatments are addressed using psychological and pharmacological intervention mechanisms. The different intervention approaches can either be used exclusively or interlinked depending on the intensity of the effects of the disaster.
References
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