Social trauma and disaster psychology: The impact of earthquakes on children’s mental health from the perspective of dissoanalysis theory and modern psychotraumatology

Abstract

Earthquakes are devastating natural disasters that can have significant impacts on the psychological well-being of children. This article reviews the literature on the psychological effects of earthquakes on children’s mental health from the perspective of modern psychotraumatology and dissoanalysis theory. The article discusses the short-term and long-term adaptive strategies employed by children in response to social traumas and grief, as well as the emergence of psychopathologies such as dissociative disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder when traumatic experiences are not metabolized and neutralized in a timely manner. It highlights the importance of immediate institutionally supportive and structured crisis and disaster psychology-oriented mental health support systems in nations where mass traumatizing events occur. The authors suggest that effective interventions in both social traumas and crisis situations and trauma-centered psychotherapies can enable traumatized and/or dissociated children, adolescents, and adults to return to their daily lives in an integrated manner as soon as possible. The article concludes by highlighting the need for mental health experts to be sent to the field through associations and non-governmental organizations to provide psychological first aid and disaster psychology practices immediately after earthquakes.

PTSD risk factors in earthquake survivors and their families: a systematic review

“…Furthermore, witnessing parents’ extreme reactions (such as crying, fainting, or panic) could increase feelings of insecurity, fear, helplessness, and anxiety in children, as parents are role models in dealing with stress (Ekşi et al, 2007 ). Indeed, children's incomplete cognitive and emotional development makes them particularly vulnerable to influences on parents’ emotion regulation, stress responses, and coping strategies (La Greca & Prinstein, 2002 ; Ozturk et al, 2023 ). In addition, severe loss of family possessions could increase children's fearfulness, anxiety, worry, and upset about the family's future (Chen et al, 2007 ; Zhang et al, 2011 ).…”