Anxiety among flood victims: A psychological study

Abstract

In recent years, a noteworthy attention to health security has been observed worldwide. Improved wellbeing that reduces the effects of environmental disasters also provides an opportunity to understand health in the context of disaster vulnerability. Painful changes and disruptions to one’s life provide valuable insight into the psychological effects on the victims. Sudden natural disasters are often believed to cause not only widespread death but also massive social disruption and outbreaks of epidemic disease and famine, leaving survivors entirely dependent on outside relief. Flooding has various impacts on the affected population in term of damage to property, destruction of property and loss of life. Flood creates sufferings, pain and agony among the victims. The anxiety disorder represents a failure to either elect an adaptive response or to inhibit a maladaptive response given a situation. The prime objective of the present investigation is to identify the psychological effect of anxiety of the flood victims of Madhepura district, Bihar, India. District Madhepura was one of the worst hit areas of the flood disaster and the people of this areas sufferings from various problems loss of life and property, feeling of uncertainty, long term rehabilitation planning include anxiety.  The sample of this study is comprised of 1000 adults, in which 500 males and 500 females of the population. Beck-Anxiety Inventory (Beck, 1961, 1996) has been administered without discriminating any cast and religion.