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14 - Disaster Mental Health in Older Adults:

Symptoms, Policy, and Planning

from Part Four - Special Groups

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2010

By
Joan M. Cook  and
Diane L. Elmore
Edited by
Yuval Neria ,
Sandro Galea  and
Fran H. Norris
Yuval Neria
Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York
Sandro Galea
Affiliation:
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Fran H. Norris
Affiliation:
Dartmouth Medical School, New Hampshire
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Summary

This chapter reviews the empirical evidence regarding mental health consequences of disasters in older adults. In addition, important implications for disaster policy and planning for the needs of the aging population are discussed. A recent quantitative review of mental health in a broad range of disaster survivors reported differential protective effects associated with older age in only 2 of 17 distinct samples that included older adults. Two themes of relative deprivation were identified in older adults: the loss of symbolic assets, and the preoccupation with time. The empirical literature on the effects of natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes on the mental health of older adults is equivocal and varies according to a variety of factors. Compared to natural disasters, much less is known about the effects of human-made catastrophes in the lives of older adults. Technological disasters can be caused by human error or major industrial accidents.

Keywords

anxiety disordersDiagnostic and Statistical Manualdisasterspsychiatric morbiditypsychiatric disordersmental healthposttraumatic stress disorder
Type
Chapter
Information
Mental Health and Disasters , pp. 233 - 263
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

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