Abstract
Increasingly, trauma and disasters are part of everyday life. Psychiatrists can play an important role in assisting individuals and communities to recover. They bring a unique set of skills and experiences that can be invaluable in minimizing morbidity and facilitating recovery. This paper discusses psychological, physiological, behavioral, and community responses encountered in the aftermath of a disaster. A preventive medicine model of understanding disaster response is discussed in which the psychiatrist delineates traumatic stressors and high-risk populations. The importance of psychiatric participation in disaster preparedness is emphasized. Psychiatric interventions targeted at the various longitudinal phases of disaster response are reviewed.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 207-226 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | Psychiatric Quarterly |
| Volume | 71 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2000 |