Research Paper on "Psychological Impact of Katrina"

Research Paper 8 pages (2352 words) Sources: 5

[EXCERPT] . . . .

The survivors can also develop dissociative symptoms such as de-realization, depersonalization, and even dissociative amnesia. They can get depressed and have difficulty in falling asleep, staying asleep and even lack concentration. They can have an impaired functioning for instance impairment in their social, occupation or even problems in sleep. This for instance in the case of the Lusitania disaster, the survivors who lost their family members, for instance the men who saw their women and children drowning in the boats that had been used to make attempts of saving them. This picture would remain vividly in the memory of these survivors since they could offer no help whatsoever to the affected. In the case of hurricane Katrina the survivors mostly are people who were already struggling to survive in the area and the occurrence of this made them loose all they had been trying to build up for themselves. This was very traumatizing to them since they saw all they had been trying to work toward been destroyed as they watched and could do practically nothing.

Post-traumatic depression- this is the prolonged depression after the disastrous event has occurred. Its symptoms include slowness in movement, fatigue, energy loss, irritability, lack of concentration and sadness. These traumatic events serve as a reminder to the survivors of their mortality that may lead to negative thought and rumination.

Reconstruction stage

A year or so after the occurrence of a disastrous event the emphasis is now on the maintenance of a stable pattern of life among the survivors. They may continue to exhibit symptoms that have been described in the inventory stage. The survivors have to realize that they have to continue with life and the grief and anger that they have is eventually replaced by acceptance (Gant, 2011). For instance in the case of hurricane Katrina the survivors learn to accept that they lost their property and homes and now have to live with the fact that they have to sought new homes and start new life's. Those who survived will therefore solve their problems and just rebuild their lives that were shattered during the disaster. This process continues for a long period of time as the new state of living is reestablished gradually. In the case of hurricane Katrina, the large number of people that were displaced, those who were rendered homeless and the overall trauma that was experienced by the survivors requires a lot of mental health monitoring for years ahead. An example was the support of young people in New Orleans an organization known as covenant house dealt with the mental health challenges of the young people in the area. There was also an initiative by volunteers to build a new play ground that would restore children's laughter in the neighborhood after the traumatizing events of the hurricane. The victims of hurricane Katrina still receive charitable contributions of medicines, emergency relief even years on after the occurrence of the disaster this is a clear indication that reconstruction takes a lot of time.

Conclusion

The two disasters involve some concepts in the psychology of the victims and survivors. These concepts have fully been discussed and they need to be greatly understood so that they can be used in case of future disaster situation. This can help in better understanding and managing this situations, this include the way the survivors will be helped and in the path of their recovery. Therefore understanding these concepts to be applied in disasters is a very important point. Despite the facts that the Hurricane Katrina disaster had not taken place for the first time in the city of New Orleans; however, it had been known to be of a high risk of getting struck with major hurricane making some areas to be badly flooded beyond the habitable conditions, the government did not use their knowledge of the demographic cities of the New Orleans to control the disaster in regards to the resources that were available for urban planning to disaster. The other factor that contributed to the disaster was the weak components of the city infrastructure that resulted in failure of water pumps giving way for polluted water to get into the streets of the city causing flooding.

Both the Hurricane Katrina and Lusitania sinking impacted the lives of the United States not only physically, but also through social, economic and psychologically. Many lives were lost while the Lusitania disaster encouraged war even though the Americans were never ready for the war.

References

Brinkley, D. (2006). The great deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. New York: Morrow.

Guterman, P. (2005). Psychological preparedness for disaster. Retrieved October 10, 2012 from http://www.academia.edu/233646/Psychological_preparedness_for_disaster

Gant, P.G., & Gantt, R. (2011). Disaster Psychology. October 10, 2012 from http://www.asse.org/professionalsafety/pastissues/057/08/042_049_F1Gan_0812.pdf.

Ballard, R.D., & Dunmore, S. (2003). Exploring the Lusitania: probing the mysteries of the sinking that changed history. New York: Warner Books.

Chandra, A. (2006). Lessons Learned from the State and Local Public Health Response to Hurricane Katrina. Retrieved October 10, 2012, from http://www.rand.org/pubs/working_papers/WR473.html

Levitt, J.I., & Whitaker, M.C. (2009). Hurricane Katrina America's unnatural disaster. London: University of Nebraska… READ MORE

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