A Study on Stress of Victims of the Great Hanshin Earthquake--The Analysis of the survey and reports on disaster victims in the volunteer work "Kokoro no Care Network"

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(1)Genetic risk factors for cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) :The interviews with earthquake victims in the emergency shelters were conducted by non-professional volunteers after the Great Hanshin Earthquake and the analysis was made to assess victim's main interests right after the earthquake, the personal relationship in the shelters and the mental problems of the adolescents in the shelters. The authors, moreover, looked at the change of the scores of GHQ before and after the psychological "Healing Camp" organized for children, conducted the longitudinal survey for victin's mental health, and analyzed the unstructured interviews with volunteers.This study makes it clear that Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is not a main issue considering the long-term mental health. There thought to be two reasons for this. First, the prevalence of PTSD is not high in the disaster. Second, social adaptation issue is more critical than PTSD in considering the long-term influences of the mental health in the disaster.It is very difficult for non-clinicians to understand the symptoms such as numbing, hypomania, minor depression, anxiety, depersonalization and altered states. However, not only PTSD but also those symptoms should be considered as reactions to trauma. Despite of the difficulties, it should be noted that many Acute Stress Reactions were discovered in this survey right after the earthquake. Immediate intervention is effective in trauma care to mitigate ASR and prevent maladjustment in the aftermath of the disaster.