Psychiatric reactions to disaster: the Mount St. Helens experience.
Following the 1980 Mount St. Helens volcanic eruption, psychiatric reactions were studied in the disaster area and in a control community. Using the new criterion-based diagnostic method for psychiatric epidemiologic research, the Diagnostic Interview Schedule, the authors found a significant prevalence of disaster-related psychiatric disorders. These Mount St. Helens disorders included depression, generalized anxiety, and posttraumatic stress reaction. There was a progressive "dose-response" relationship in the comparison of control, low-exposure, and high-exposure groups. The dose-response pattern occurred among both the bereaved and the property-loss victims.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D003643:Death; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D004190:Disasters; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D012737:Sex Factors; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D014861:Washington