Social capital and post-disaster mental health

AbstractBackground: Despite national and international policies to develop social capital in disaster-affected communities, empiric evidence on the association between social capital and disaster mental health is limited and ambiguous.Objective: The study explores the relationship between social capital and disaster mental health outcomes (PTSD, anxiety, and depression) in combination with individual factors (appraisal, coping behavior, and social support).Design: This is a community-based cross-sectional study in a flood-affected town in northern England.

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Sport, exercise, and performance psychology

Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology is the official publication of the Exercise and Sport Psychology Division (47) of the American Psychological Association. The journal publishes papers in all areas of sport, exercise, and performance psychology for applied scientists and practitioners. This journal is committed to publishing evidence that supports the application of psychological principles to facilitate peak sport performance, enhance physical activity participation, and achieve optimal human performance.

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Self-assessment of well-being as an indicator of quality of life of former war prisoners - a Croatian study

The impact of war on the population is vast, especially when it comes to those who were directly affected by war, among other things as concentration camp detainees. Because of the specific war experience of this population it is important to better understand the possible contribution of key socio-demographic variables, war traumatization and acute disturbances in mental health to their subjective assessment of their own well-being, which represents a psychological category and is based on a subjective assessment.

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Self-worth mediates the effect of violent loss on PTSD symptoms

Although research has confirmed that violent losses can exacerbate grief reactions, few investigations have explored underlying mechanisms. In this study, the authors used a dataset on bereaved spouses and bereaved parents at 4- and 18-months postloss to examine the mediating effects of self-worth and worldviews (benevolence and meaningfulness beliefs). Persons bereaved by violent causes had significantly more posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), grief, and depression symptoms at 4- and 18-months postloss than persons bereaved by natural causes.

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Sequelae of Traumatic Stress : Psychopathology, Cortisol, and Attentional Function in the Aftermath of a Disaster

Marie-Louise Meewisse onderzocht 260 getroffenen van de vuurwerkramp in Enschede. Twee jaar na de ramp leed de helft aan een psychische stoornis. Posttraumatische stress stoornis (PTSS) kwam voor bij 22 procent, een fobie bij 21 procent en een depressie bij 16 procent. Direct na de ramp had ongeveer de helft een psychische stoornis, na vier jaar nog maar 30 procent. Getroffenen met PTSS of depressieve klachten hadden ook problemen met aandacht en concentratie. Bij mensen met PTSS bleken die tot jaren na de ramp aanwezig, ook als de PTSS-klachten voorbij waren.

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Risk factors for posttraumatic stress reactions among Chinese students following exposure to a snowstorm disaster

BACKGROUND: It is important to understand which factors increase the risk of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adolescents. Previous studies have shown that the most important risk factors for PTSD include the type, severity, and duration of exposure to the traumatic events.METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was used to investigate the psychological symptoms associated with the aftermath of a snowstorm disaster in the Hunan province of China in January 2008. Students living in Hunan were surveyed at a three-month follow-up after the disaster.

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Sacrifice as Coping: A Case Study of the Cultural-Political Framing of Traumatic Esperiences among Eelam Tamils in Norway

Although traumatic events may be pathogenic to some, they may also be moderated by social and cultural factors such as community support and positively framed cultural reconceptualizations of the traumatic events. This article analyses how cultural-political narratives may frame individual traumatic experiences and channel them into collective causes among Tamil refugees in Norway. Data derives from participant observation within Tamil NGOs in Norway between September 2006 and February 2010.

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Resilience Monitor, Development of a measuring tool for psychosocial resilience

ObjectiveThe objective of the project Resilience Monitor is to develop a measuring tool, which can be repeatedly implemented to discover the degree to which Dutch people are able to overcome a disaster or a shocking experience. The measuring tool is administered individually.

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Resilience to loss and potential trauma

Initial research on loss and potentially traumatic events (PTEs) has been dominated by either a psychopathological approach emphasizing individual dysfunction or an event approach emphasizing average differences between exposed and nonexposed groups. We consider the limitations of these approaches and review more recent research that has focused on the heterogeneity of outcomes following aversive events. Using both traditional analytic tools and sophisticated latent trajectory modeling, this research has identified a set of prototypical outcome patterns.

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Retrospective memory bias for the frequency of potentially traumatic events: A prospective study

We conducted a prospective study that tracked the frequency of potentially traumatic events (PTEs) and nontraumatic events among college students over a 4-year period using a weekly web-based survey. At the study's completion, participants attempted to recall the number of events they had endorsed on the web surveys. Although participants underrecalled the frequency of all types of life events, recollection was more accurate for PTEs than for non-PTEs. Recalled-frequency of PTEs was associated positively with distress at recall and inversely with trait self-enhancement.

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