Mental Health Of The Population Affected After Natural Disaster Of 20 February 2010 In Madeira Autonomous Region

Abstract

Natural disasters resulting from climate change have increased currently.More and more people feel unprotected without security and therefore vulnerable to stress and anxiety may cause lasting mental illness. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD), is an anxiety problem that develops in some people after extremely traumatic events, such as combat, crime, an accident or natural disaster.People with PTSD may relive the event via intrusive memories, flashbacks and nightmares; avoid anything that reminds them of the trauma; and have anxious feelings they didn’t have before that are so intense their lives are disrupt (APA, 2013).Identifying the natural disaster of the 20th February 2010 in the Autonomous Region of Madeira as a potentially traumatic event, the objectives of this research were: (1) to describe the levels of PTSD and dissociative responses to exposure to peritraumatic experiences associated with alluvial the natural disaster of February 20, 2010, in a sample of adults living in the Autonomous Region of wood (RAM), namly in the districts of Funchal, Santa Cruz and Ribeira Brava; (2) to analyze the relationship between the district of residence and levels of PTSD and dissociative responses to exposure to peritraumatic experiences; and (3) to assess the rate of occurrence of PTSD in these individuals. This cross-sectional study included a sample of 602 adults living in the districts most affected like Funchal, Ribeira Brava and Santa Cruz. The instruments for assessing the individuals were the Peritraumatic Experiences Questionnaire (QEPT; Maia, Moreira &Fernandes, 2009) and the Response Evaluation to Traumatic Event Scale (EARAT; McIntyre & Ventura, 1996). The majority of the population was exposed to significant peritraumatic experiences (85.4%) and about a quarter of the sample (25.4%) had criteria for the diagnosis of PTSD. Between the subsamples defined by district in respect to the average scores of the QEPT and subscale EARAT – Long term Responses we verify the existence of statistically significant differences. Most individuals exposed to significant peritraumaticexperiences was found in the sub-sample of Santa Cruz (90.5%) and the highest percentage of people diagnosed with PTSD was found in the sub-sample of Ribeira Brava (32.6%) The scientific importance and the clinical relevance of these findings, envision their usefulness in understanding the impact of this natural disaster with a view to the promotion of mental health in the support to victims of disasters in Madeira.