Prevalence of post-traumatic stress (PTSD) and depression among flood victims

Abstract

The concept of disaster implies community as the basis and defines it as “an event, concentrated in time and space in which a society, or a relatively self-sufficient subdivision of a society, undergoes severe danger and incurs…losses to its members and physical appurtenances.” Flooding has various impacts on the affected population in terms of damage to property, destruction of property and loss of life. Flood disaster creates sufferings, pain and agony among the victims. Depression is not the same as a blue mood, which is a normal short-term experience of sadness or loss. Depression is an illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts. Often referred to as the invisible disease, it affects the way a person eats and sleeps, the way one feels about oneself, and the way one thinks about things. Our findings reveal that flood do not affect people equally. There is a high degree of heterogeneity in the size – but not much in the direction – of the impacts on different socioeconomic groups. Inequalities in risk exposure and sensitivity to risk and in access to resources, opportunities and capabilities, put specific segments of the population in a disadvantaged position. Identifying general patterns in the magnitude of the impacts is not easy due to the intensity of flood and the complexity of the interactions triggered by them.