Toxic trauma: Household water quality experiences predict posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms during the Flint, Michigan, water crisis

Kruger, Daniel J.; Cupal, Suzanne; Franzen, Susan; Kodjebacheva, Gergana; Bailey, Elder Sarah; Key, Kent; Kaufman, Martin M.

doi:10.1002/jcop.21898

Cited by 40 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Against this backdrop, we identify the need to reframe water security to better account for the complexities of Indigenous peoples' relationships to water through the use and value of traditional water sources. As recent works have highlighted, the "non-material" dimensions of water security including emotional, affective, relational and spiritual relationships to water need to be considered alongside material dimensions such as water access, quality and use [17,[23][24][25][26][27]. Encouraging a shift from a narrow and so strictly material definition of water security, Jepson and others (2017) note the need to "reorient the concept of water security away from a utilitarian focus on material water and towards a critical approach based on water-society relations" [20] (p. 50).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water is Medicine: Reimagining Water Security through Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Relationships to Treated and Traditional Water Sources in Yukon, Canada

Wilson

Harris

Joseph-Rear³

et al. 2019

Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There is growing acknowledgement that the material dimensions of water security alone are inadequate; we also need to engage with a broader set of hydrosocial relationships. Indeed, more holistic approaches are needed to explain Indigenous peoples’ relationships to water including the use of traditional water sources such as mountain creeks and springs. In this paper, we seek to reimagine water security through a case study of Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in’s relationships to both treated and traditional water sources throughout the First Nation’s traditional territory in Yukon, Canada. Through community-based research including interviews with Elders and other community members, we examine the importance of traditional water sources for meeting important health requirements including physical, spiritual and cultural wellbeing. This intervention contributes to ongoing debates about what it means to secure safe and affordable water in three key ways: First, we argue that Indigenous water relations invite a shift towards more a holistic understanding of water security; second, we contend that settler colonial politics should be understood as a root cause of water insecurity; finally, we explore how Two-Eyed Seeing can be applied as an alternative to the ‘integration’ of Western scientific and Indigenous approaches to drinking water.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water is Medicine: Reimagining Water Security through Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Relationships to Treated and Traditional Water Sources in Yukon, Canada

Wilson

Harris

Joseph-Rear³

et al. 2019

Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Participants directly affected by the water crisis reported symptoms of poor mental health in general (Kruger et al, 2017b), post-traumatic stress disorder (Kruger et al, 2017a), depression (Fortenberry et al, 2018), anxiety or stress (Fortenberry et al, 2018; Gray et al, 2017; Singer et al, 2017), sleep problems (Fortenberry et al, 2018; Kruger et al, 2018c), fear (Gray et al, 2017), aggressiveness (Fortenberry et al, 2018), trouble concentrating (Fortenberry et al, 2018), emotional outbursts (Fortenberry et al, 2018), decreased appetite (Fortenberry et al, 2018), and exacerbation of pre-existing health conditions (Gray et al, 2017). Cuthbertson et al’s (2016) expert panellists believed the water crisis was increasing stress, anxiety and to a lesser extent depression among Flint’s population, and that residents had been left feeling angry, defeated and on edge.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological consequences of the Flint Water Crisis: A systematic review

Brooks

Patel²

2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Given the COVID-19 outbreak, these unprecedented times pose many urgent dilemmas about how to support the mental health of communities. The goal of this research is to summarize existing literature on the mental health impact of the recent Flint Water Crisis. In March 2020, we searched five databases for literature exploring the psychological consequences of the crisis. Main findings were extracted. 132 citations were screened and eleven included in the review. Results suggest a negative psychological effect caused by the water crisis, including anxiety and health worries, exacerbated by lowered trust in public health officials, uncertainty about the long-term impacts of the crisis, financial hardships, stigma, and difficulties seeking help. There was evidence that concerns about tap water continued even after the state of emergency was lifted. With a possible compounded effect to residents of Flint with the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the results highlight the need for more resources for psychological health interventions in Flint as well as a need for local governments and health authorities to regain the trust of those affected by the Flint Water Crisis.

show abstract

“…For example, psychosocial and physical well‐being can be adversely affected by concern about diminishing water in the household storage tank (Collins et al, 2019) or anxiety about contaminants (Kruger et al, 2017). As for the role of perceptions, many reasons exist other than objective safety as to why water may not be considered to be of acceptable quality.…”

Section: Household Water Insecurity As a Biological Exposurementioning

confidence: 99%

The toll of household water insecurity on health and human biology: Current understandings and future directions

Rosinger

Young

2020

WIREs Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Water is imperative for nutrition and health, economic productivity, and political stability; it also holds cultural and symbolic meanings and functions. Household water insecurity is an emerging construct that captures lived experiences with water access, use, and acceptability. Although the plausibility of household water insecurity to "get under the skin" and shape human biology is high, these relationships have not been systematically investigated. Therefore, in this article, we set out to examine how household water insecurity and allied concepts affect health and human biology throughout the life course. We first lay out the various ways that water insecurity can act as a deleterious exposure, that is, through problematic quality, excess, and shortage. Next, we posit how water insecurity directly shapes human biology, as well as indirectly, via psychosocial stress precipitating cortisol exposure, with potential intergenerational effects. We highlight a range of established and plausible biological consequences using evidence from human and animal model studies. These include diarrheal prevalence, dehydration, stunting, food insecurity, gut microbiome alteration, malnutrition, psychosocial stress, adverse birth outcomes, lower cognitive function and performance, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease. We also discuss the mechanisms by which household water insecurity may shape human biology across the life course; however, these pathways are just beginning to be understood. Longitudinal studies that simultaneously quantify household water insecurity and biological outcomes using comparable metrics in diverse environments and across generations will provide necessary evidence to establish causal relationships. Given the current global water crisis and its potential health consequences, such studies are urgently needed.

show abstract

Toxic trauma: Household water quality experiences predict posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms during the Flint, Michigan, water crisis

Cited by 40 publications

References 16 publications

Water is Medicine: Reimagining Water Security through Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Relationships to Treated and Traditional Water Sources in Yukon, Canada

Water is Medicine: Reimagining Water Security through Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Relationships to Treated and Traditional Water Sources in Yukon, Canada

Psychological consequences of the Flint Water Crisis: A systematic review

The toll of household water insecurity on health and human biology: Current understandings and future directions

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About