Impact of Natural Disasters on Mental Health: Evidence and Implications

Abstract

Natural disasters are large-scale catastrophic events, and they are increasing in frequency and severity. Converging evidence indicates that the mental health consequences of disasters are extensive and are often associated with trauma and the disruption of personal and socioeconomic factors in people’s lives. Although most individuals experiencing disaster-related traumatic events do not develop mental illnesses, some experience adverse psychological effects of disasters. These mental health effects begin immediately following a disaster and may persist for extended periods. In this article, we summarize the literature findings to provide a narrative review that focuses on the mental health consequences of natural disasters. An overview of the disaster mental health research field is provided, and the findings are ordered into theoretical frameworks. Then, the development and course of psychopathology regarding disaster aftermath are described in a methodological context. Next, understanding a disaster as an event of transition is highlighted, and the impact of this disaster-specific transition is discussed. Lastly, a potential relationship between the transitional impact of a disaster and mental health consequences is speculated on, and the implications are discussed. The impact of disasters on mental health can be direct or indirect, short-term or long-term, and to some extent depends on the recovery process of the affected community. Also, we propose the possible merits of using the Transitional Impact Scale in the context of disaster mental health research by assessing the features of disaster-related transition and its effects on mental health. We conclude by suggesting a direction for future research in terms of measuring the disaster mental health effects in community settings (affected vs. non-affected) and also considering cross-cultural and cross-regional differences. In recent decades, a large amount of knowledge has been gathered from disaster mental health research, but, still, more research is needed to resolve some irregular findings through refining the methodological variations.