Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-b6zl4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-11T16:54:20.862Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Life Events and Psychiatric Disorder: the Role of a Natural Disaster

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Alexander C. McFarlane
Alexander C. McFarlane*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, The Flinders University of South Australia, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Examining the impact of natural disasters on psychological health provides an opportunity to study the role played by extreme adversity in the onset of psychiatric disorder. Four hundred and sixty-nine fire-fighters who had been intensely exposed to an Australian bushfire disaster completed a detailed inventory of their experiences four months later. They also completed a brief life events schedule and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. Only 9% of the GHQ score variance could be accounted for by the disaster and other life events; the effects of the disaster appeared to be separate and additive. This is similar to the relationship between life events and psychiatric illness found in other settings. It is suggested that vulnerability is a more important factor in breakdown than the degree of stress experienced.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 151 , Issue 3 , September 1987 , pp. 362 - 367
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1987 

References

Andrews, G. & Tennant, C. (1978) Life events stress and psychiatric illness. Psychological Medicine, 8, 545–549.Google Scholar
Brown, G. W. (1974) Meaning measurement and stress of life events. In Stressful Life Events: Their Nature and Effects (eds Dohrenwent, B. S. & Dohrenwend, B. P.). New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Brown, G. W. & Harris, T. (1978) The social origins of depression. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Brown, G. W. & Harris, T. & Peto, J. (1976) Life events and psychiatric disorders: nature of causal link. Psychological Medicine, 3, 159–176.Google Scholar
Cooke, D. J. & Hole, D. J. (1983) The actiological importance of stressful life events. British Journal of Psychiatry, 143,397 400.Google Scholar
Finlay-Jones, R. (1981) Showing that life events are a cause of depression-a review. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 15, 229–238.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gleser, G. C., Green, B. L. & Winget, C. (1981) Prolonged psychosocial effects of a disaster: a study of Buffalo Creek. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. P. (1972) The Detection of Psychiatric Illness by Questionnaire. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Green, B. L. (1982) Assessing the level of psychological impairment following disaster. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 170, 544–552.Google Scholar
Hendin, H., Haas, A. P. & Singer, P. et al (1983) The influence of precombat personality on post-traumatic stress disorder. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 24, 530–535.Google Scholar
Hill, T. (1983) Predictors of coping after a disaster: a study of Ash Wednesday bushfire victims . BA Honours thesis, University of Adelaide.Google Scholar
Holmes, T. H. & Rahe, R. H. (1967) The social readjustment rating scale. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 11, 215–218.Google Scholar
Hull, C. H. & Nie, N. H. (1981) SPSS Update 7–9. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Krupinski, J., Stroller, A. & Baikie, A. G. (1966) A social profile of Heyfield, Victoria. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology, 2, 110–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leopold, R. L. & Dillon, H. (1963) Psychoanatomy of disaster: a long-term study of post-traumatic neuroses in survivors of a marine explosion. American Journal of Psychiatry, 119, 913–921.Google Scholar
Lishman, W. A. (1973) The psychiatric sequelae of head injury: a review. Psychological Medicine, 3, 304–318.Google Scholar
Logue, J. N., Melick, M. E. & Hansen, H. (1981) Research issues and directions in the epidemiology of health effects of disaster. Epidemiological Review, 3, 140–162.Google Scholar
Mcfarlane, A. C. (1984) The Ash Wednesday bushfires in South Australia: implications for planning for future post-disaster services. Medical Journal of Australia, 141, 286–291.Google Scholar
Mcfarlane, A. C. (1985) The effects of stressful life events are disasters: research and theoretical issues. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 19, 409–421.Google Scholar
Mcfarlane, A. C. & Raphael, B. (1984) Ash Wednesday: The effects of a fire. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 18, 341–345.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nie, N. H., Hull, C. H. & Jenkins, J. G. et al (1975) Spss: Statistical Package For The Social Sciences (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Paykel, E. S. (1978) Contribution of life events to causation of psychiatric illness. Psychological Medicine, 8, 245–253.Google Scholar
Paykel, E. S. (1983) Methodological aspects of life events research. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 27, 341–352.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paykel, E. S., Prusoff, B. A. & Uhlenhuth, E. H. (1971) Scaling life events. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 859–863.Google Scholar
Perry, R. W. & Lindell, M. K. (1978) The psychological consequences of natural disaster: a review of research on American communities. Mass Emergency, 3, 105–115.Google Scholar
Quarantelli, E. L. & Dynes, R. R. (1977) Response to social crisis and disaster. Annual Reviews of Sociology, 3, 23–49.Google Scholar
Tennant, C. (1977) The general health questionnaire: a valid index of psychological impairment in Australian populations. Medical Journal of Australia, 2, 392–394.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tennant, C. (1983) Life events and psychological morbidity: the evidence from prospective studies. Psychological Medicine, 13, 483–486.Google Scholar
Tennant, C. & Andrews, G. (1976) A scale to measure the stress of life events. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 10, 27–32.Google Scholar
Wallace, M., Cook, P. & Freshe, W. (1985) Social support and adjustment following a disaster. In Report of Proceedings of a Research Workshop on Human Behaviour in Disasters in Australia, 25–27April, 1984 Mt Macedon: Australian Counter Disaster College.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.