Coming to terms with Fukushima disaster-related trauma and earlier trauma by constructing a new identity. About a case

A Hori

doi:10.1051/radiopro/2020088

Abstract

The incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety generally increases after disasters, and the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and nuclear power plant accident were no exception. Psychological first aid providers who deliver interventions to address mental health issues do not emphasize psychiatric expertise, but instead go into the field to help residents rebuild and stabilize their daily lives and provide a link between them and supporters. When psychiatric problems do not improve with such interventions and persist for more than a few years, specialized psychiatric interventions are considered. Past studies have examined the experience of prolonged exposure therapy (a specialized cognitive behavioral therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder) among survivors of the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. The participant in this study was a survivor who was evacuated from the nuclear power plant accident but had experienced multiple traumas and had been a victim of domestic violence before the disaster. Recovery in this case did not involve a simple psychiatric treatment for trauma, but rather a process of overcoming the values that caused indulgence in victimization to form a new identity.

Highlights

Victims of nuclear accidents experience significant psychological impact
A cohort study of Estonians who were cleanup workers after the Chernobyl disaster found an increase in suicide rates among the group compared with the general population, even 17 years after the disaster (Rahu et al, 2006). These findings suggest that other disasters have a significant impact on the mental health of the victims, nuclear accidents have a longer and more severe impact
We report the case of a patient with postdisaster posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who was treated with prolonged exposure (PE) (Foa and Kozak, 1986), but the process was more complicated

Summary

Introduction

Victims of nuclear accidents experience significant psychological impact. The most significant public health impact of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster was identified as the psychological effect of the accident (Bromet et al, 2011; Bromet, 2012). In a survey of residents evacuated by evacuation order after the nuclear accident in Fukushima, the rates of suspected PTSD were 19.0% at 10 months and 17.8% at 35 months for men and 25.3% and 23.3% at 10 months and 35 months for women (Kukihara et al, 2014; Maeda and Oe, 2017). The rate of depression among evacuated residents of Fukushima was estimated to be 14.6% in 2012, 11.9% in 2013, and 9.3% in 2014 (Oe et al, 2016; Maeda and Oe, 2017). Surveys conducted 14, 30, 43, and 54 months after the earthquake and tsunami off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture, which was less affected by the nuclear accident but severely affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, found that 62.7% of medical personnel and

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