Acute stress reaction among victims of the 1999 Athens earthquake: help seekers' profile.
Year: 2003
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Natural disasters adversely affect the lives of large populations, disrupt their social network, and result in an enormous economic damage; consequently, they constitute a major traumatic experience with ensuing psychopathology (1-5). In the case of earthquakes, this has been repeatedly documented by various groups of investigators (6-18). However, research has dealt primarily with the long-term psychosocial consequences of earthquakes (6-18), while their immediate psychological effects have not been systematically investigated. Yet, early psychological reactions to stressful life events might be a herald for the eventual development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (19,20), a frequently disabling and long-lasting condition.
Earthquakes constitute a common type of natural disaster in Greece. This is because Greece is in an area of high seismic activity. The earthquake which struck the Athens metropolitan area on September 7, 1999 had a magnitude of 5.9 on the Richter scale and was the second strongest over the last twenty years; actually, in certain residential areas, it caused large material and considerable human casualties. The main earthquake was followed by many after-shocks of a smaller magnitude that lasted for about a couple of weeks. The death toll rose to 152; in addition, more than 25,000 individuals were evacuated, mainly in tents close to their place of residence, and a few more thousands moved permanently elsewhere.
The main purpose of the present study was to assess the diagnosis of acute stress reaction according to the ICD-10 (21) criteria among individuals seeking help at a psychological support service for earthquake victims. An additional objective was to evaluate the effect of certain risk factors which may predispose to the development of acute stress reaction in disaster victims.
Source: PubMed
Institution: Eginition Hospital
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1890098357