Originally published January 2 2006
UCLA researchers find psychotherapy is effective for disaster survivors
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A new study by a UCLA-based research team has found higher incidence of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in patients who were not given psychotherapy in the wake of natural disasters they lived through, suggesting that survivors of the tsunami and the Gulf Coast hurricanes should be given this vital medical treatment to help them fend off depression and PTSD.
Young survivors of the recent Indian Ocean tsunami, Kashmir earthquake, Gulf Coast hurricanes and other natural disasters face high risk of chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression if left untreated, according to a new study by a UCLA-based research team.
Detailed in the December edition of the peer-reviewed American Journal of Psychiatry, the study examined the impact of the catastrophic 1988 Spitak earthquake in Armenia on adolescents near the temblor's epicenter.
"Chronic PTSD and depression can impair the psychosocial development and behavior of children and adolescents, which in turn can have a detrimental effect on their families and communities," said lead author Dr. Armen K. Goenjian, a researcher and psychiatrist at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA and the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress.
"The findings unequivocally show the sustained benefits of specific types of therapy, even when provided 1.5 years after the earthquake" according to Goenjian, who is also the director of the Armenian Relief Society's Mental Health Clinics in Gumri and Spitak.
Signs of the psychological effects of trauma in children include fear of abandonment and recurrence of the horrors of the trauma, anger, withdrawal, trouble with concentration, recurrent fearful memories of the trauma, and nightmares.
The study examined the impact of the Spitak earthquake that struck northern Armenia on Dec. 7, 1988, killing more than 25,000 people and causing massive destruction in four cities and numerous villages.
The research team evaluated the natural course of post-traumatic stress and depressive symptoms among untreated adolescents from Spitak and Gumri.
In addition the research team examined the effectiveness of brief trauma and grief-focused psychotherapy among adolescents from Gumri.
Funded through the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the network works to improve the quality, effectiveness and availability of services for traumatized youth.
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