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User:Vasquez ariana/Extreme weather post-traumatic stress disorder

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Prevention and preparedness tactics include enhanced risk communication, mental health literacy and first aid, and government planning. Incorporating flood risk and management infrastructure in urban design is an effective mode of prevention for PTSD. Establishing resilience by allocating resources and encouraging community growth is also an effective tactic for reducing associated flood risks, especially among more vulnerable populations.

Learning about storms and weather forecasts, creating safety plans, preparing in advance, and identifying your stressors in consideration to specific natural disasters can give you a sense of control. This ultimately can lessen the mental turmoil associated with these situations.[1]

(added a paragraph regarding prevention because of Katie's recommendation in her peer review)


Suicide

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Among other issues, the effects of climate change and extreme weather can lead to an increase in suicide rates. This can be experienced both when one experiences an extreme weather event, but also due to the uncertainty of the future, in relation to climate change.

Research has shown that there is a connection between farmer suicide rates and the occurrence of a drought. Droughts can lead to crop failure, inflation/economic hardships, prolonged heat exposure, and relocating which can overall accumulate high stress levels leading to more suicide attempts amongst farmers. [2]

There have also been many association between suicide, especially violent, and the increase in temperature due to global warming.[2]

(I added this due to Alexx bringing to attention how little of information is added about the effects of heatwaves and droughts)



Extreme weather events can have a significant impact on mental health, particularly in the form of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Extreme weather post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) occurs when someone experiences the symptoms of PTSD due to extreme weather events such as hurricanes, floods, wildfires, etc.[3] With the increasing frequency and severity of these events due to climate change, it is important to understand how they can lead to long-lasting psychological trauma and learn to provide support for those affected.

(Gabby recommended to add a clear definition of extreme weather PTSD with citation in the lead)


Many extreme weather events from the recent past have led to many new cases of Extreme Weather PTSD. Presented below are a list of extreme weather events and the prevalence of PTSD in the aftermath.

Hurricane Katrina

A study researching the impact of Katrina on low income parents showed that over half of participants showed probable symptoms of PTSD.[4] Another study showed that most adults that did develop PTSD had still not recovered after approximately two years.[5]Many survivors continued to experience mental health issues even ten years after the tragedy[6].

Hurricane Katrina


(Gabby also recommended to add some more well known extreme weather events which I plan to add on more)

(added a link for hurricane katrina and a picture of the eye)


One possible treatment for extreme weather PTSD is psychological debriefing, but this has been shown to be an ineffective intervention for flood events. Prolonged exposure (PE), cognitive processing therapy (CPT), and cognitive therapy for PTSD (CT-PTSD) all significantly reduce PTSD symptoms in research and clinical settings. Emotional processing theory is the basis for PE. PE employs emotional processing techniques to activate trauma memory and modify the patient’s pathological fear structure. CPT utilizes social cognitive theory (SCT) to consider the patient’s cognitions, emotions, and behavior in the context of the trauma. CPT reduces symptoms of PTSD through cognitive restructuring. CT-PTSD is based on the theory that individuals afflicted with PTSD maintain a sense of a serious and current threat. Patients work to modify assessments of current threats, reduce dysfunctional cognitive strategies, and elaborate their trauma memory through a wide range of behavioral activation assignments.

Treatment that is accesible to everyone includes social support. Social support has been shown in the past to prevent the severity of post-traumatic stress symptoms. A recent study reported that individuals who are self-compassionate experienced fewer post-traumatic stress symptoms after a weather-related traumatic event because of perceived increased social support.[7]Free resources such as the Disaster Distress Helpline (1-800-985-5990) are also available 24/7 for support by providing confidential counseling and coping mechanisms in order to reduce PTSD symptoms.[8]

( I moved my insert about social support into the treatment and solutions section)

(I also added onto the social support section as recommended by Breyanna)


Current[when?] research focuses on PTSD associated with floods and storms. Knowledge about other events such as droughts, heatwaves, landslides, and precipitation is more limited. Further investigation is needed[according to whom?] to determine the prevalence of PTSD in the instance of these various events and to identify which symptoms of PTSD correspond to which extreme weather incidents.

(added links for landslides and precipitation)


One possible treatment for extreme weather PTSD is psychological debriefing, but this has been shown to be an ineffective intervention for flood events. Prolonged exposure (PE), cognitive processing therapy (CPT), and cognitive therapy for PTSD (CT-PTSD) all significantly reduce PTSD symptoms in research and clinical settings. Emotional processing theory is the basis for PE. PE employs emotional processing techniques to activate trauma memory and modify the patient’s pathological fear structure. CPT utilizes social cognitive theory (SCT) to consider the patient’s cognitions, emotions, and behavior in the context of the trauma. CPT reduces symptoms of PTSD through cognitive restructuring. CT-PTSD is based on the theory that individuals afflicted with PTSD maintain a sense of a serious and current threat. Patients work to modify assessments of current threats, reduce dysfunctional cognitive strategies, and elaborate their trauma memory through a wide range of behavioral activation assignments.

(added a link for cognitive therapy)


Extreme weather events

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New Orleans Flooded after Hurricane Katrina

Examples of extreme weather events include tropical storms, hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, and floods. These events have been growing in frequency in the past few decades due to climate change. With this growing frequency, it will increase the effects of these events onto humans and society in the future. People who are exposed to life threatening situations, including extreme weather events, are at a greater risk of experiencing PTSD symptoms or developing the disease. Experiencing or knowing someone who experienced an injury from a natural disaster increased the likelihood and frequency of PTSD symptoms. Also, experiencing a close death of a family member in relation to the natural disaster or weather event often led to a higher likelihood of PTSD.

(added an image of a flood, specifically from Hurricane Katrina)

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References

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  1. ^ US Department of Commerce, NOAA. "Storm Stress and Anxiety". www.weather.gov. Retrieved 2024-10-15.
  2. ^ a b Padhy, S. K., Sarkar, S., Panigrahi, M., & Paul, S. (2015). Mental health effects of climate change. Indian journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 19(1), 3–7. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5278.156997
  3. ^ "Extreme weather is a cause of post-traumatic stress – DW – 08/26/2023". dw.com. Retrieved 2024-10-15.
  4. ^ Rhodes, J., Chan, C., Paxson, C., Rouse, C. E., Waters, M., & Fussell, E. (2010). The impact of hurricane Katrina on the mental and physical health of low-income parents in New Orleans. The American journal of orthopsychiatry, 80(2), 237–247. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1939-0025.2010.01027.x
  5. ^ McLaughlin, K. A., Berglund, P., Gruber, M. J., Kessler, R. C., Sampson, N. A., & Zaslavsky, A. M. (2011). Recovery from PTSD following Hurricane Katrina. Depression and anxiety, 28(6), 439–446. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.20790
  6. ^ Reardon, Sara (2015-08-01). "Hurricane Katrina's psychological scars revealed". Nature. 524 (7566): 395–396. doi:10.1038/524395a. ISSN 1476-4687.
  7. ^ Allen, A. B., Littleton, H., Bistricky, S., Benson, K., Cox, T., & Benight, C. C. (2024). Self-compassion reduces posttraumatic stress symptom severity in hurricane survivors via perceived social support. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, https://www.proquest.com/psycarticles/docview/2917321507/DEEB44F4EEE343BFPQ/1?accountid=8240&sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals
  8. ^ "Coping with hurricane PTSD". LCMC Health. Retrieved 2024-10-15.

Instructor Feedback:

I have integrated my feedback on your edits below. The citation isn't correctly linking to the Reference section of the article. The citation is an example of peer-reviewed primary literature. The preference for this assignment is the incorporation of peer-reviewed secondary sources published in the last 10 years. Secondary sources take results from many peer-reviewed primary literature studies and report on the sum of the findings. Therefore, they are considered stronger evidence for an encyclopedia-type resource. I encourage you to review the final assignment requirements so you will know the areas I plan to assess. Part of the requirement is to introduce at least 2 examples of peer-reviewed secondary literature that wasn't pre-existing.

Social support has also been seen shown to prevent the severity of post-traumatic stress symptoms. It was A recent study reported found that individuals who are self-compassionate are more likely to experienced fewer post-traumatic stress symptoms after a weather-related traumatic event because they of perceived increased social support.[1]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).