The Consequences Of Disaster For Mental Health: Conflicting Views
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Date
1979
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Publisher
Disaster Research Center
Abstract
Description
As you all know, several weeks ago, there was an accident at The Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. Press Accounts reported all sorts of things about the alleged responses of the threatened population. It is clear that public authorities were cautious and hesitant about taking certain actions due to their assumptions about possible reactions of citizens in the area. Both the journalistic accounts and official actions conveyed the idea that the endangered people were on edge, that the potential for psychological damage to the people involved was high. Journalistic stories even openly speculated about both the short and long term consequences of the accident on the mental well-being of the residents in the area.
Keywords
Disaster, mental health