With natural disasters occurring with increasing frequency and magnitude, concerns have also been raised with respect to their potential impacts on mental health. A recent study from the University of Delaware has sought to better understand the magnitude of the issue, by focusing on changes in suicide rates from before and after natural disasters. The study looked at 281 distinct natural disasters within the United States and examined suicide rates over a 12 year span. The results indicated that suicides increased for all types of natural disasters in the first year afterward, with rates eventually returning to the baseline after several years.
Says Jennifer Downey, founding director of the University of Delaware’s epidemiology program in the College of Health Sciences, “From a policy perspective, we can use this data to say we should really extend funding for mental health services out at least two years after a disaster because people clearly are not yet recovered, even to their old normal, after one year, when this type of funding typically expires. The goal cannot be to recover to the pre-disaster status quo. We want those impacted by disasters to recover and be more resilient to the mental health impacts of disasters than they were before.”
Source:
https://www.udel.edu/udaily/2020/november/diasters-impact-suicide-mental-health/
