Page 88 - IJPS-6-1

International Journal of Population Studies

REVIEW ARTICLE

Understanding the resilience and

mental health impacts of natural

disasters in India: A narrative review

Sangram Kishor Patel *, Gopal Agrawal , Bincy Mathew 3
2
1
1 Population Council, Zone 5A, India Habitat Center, Lodi Road, New Delhi, India
2 Office of Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, New Delhi, India
3 George Institute for Global Health, New Delhi, India

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to understand the linkages between natural disasters
and their impact on the mental health of people as well as associated resilience mechanisms in
India. Natural disasters affect not only the physical environment but also the economy, social
life, and well-being of the population. In addition to the loss of precious lives and economic
losses, disasters affect the natural growth and mental health of the affected populations to a
ARTICLE INFO great extent. It is extremely challenging to quantify the true scale of damage caused by a disaster
Received: February 16, 2020 because physical damage is visible, but hidden impacts could be much more severe and have
Accepted: April 3, 2020 catastrophic effects on the socioeconomic growth of the affected families and areas. Against
Published: April 12, 2020 this background and with the limited available evidence, this study has tried to understand how
disasters lead to poor mental health among the affected populations around the globe and tried
*CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
to conceptualize this in the Indian context. Our review documents the different pathways for
Dr. Sangram Kishor Patel, disasters to adversely affect mental health, particularly among vulnerable populations. The
Senior Program Officer, review also highlights how an increased frequency of disasters with climate change can lead to
Poverty, Gender and Youth a post-traumatic stress disorder, adjustment disorder, and depression. Changes in climate and
Program, Population Council, global warming may require populations to migrate, which can lead to acculturation stress. It
Zone 5A, IHC, Lodi Road, can also lead to increased rates of physical illnesses, which secondarily would be associated
New Delhi - 110 003, India.
sangramkishor@gmail.com with psychological distress. This research is an initial step in bringing this important issue
forward in the context of Sustainable Development Goals and outlining that better policies
CITATION need to be designed for prevention, services, and psychological counseling of mental health
Patel SK, Agrawal G, problems due to disasters. This study also suggests for more longitudinal research to understand
Mathew B. (2020). the development of disaster-related mental health problems and to develop adequate mitigation
Understanding the resilience strategies.
and mental health impacts of
natural disasters in India: A Keywords: Climate change; Natural disasters; Resilience; Post-traumatic stress
narrative review. International disorder; Psychological distress; Mental health; India
Journal of Population Studies,
6(1):82-98. This article belongs to the Special Issue: Environment and Population Dynamics in South Asia
doi: 10.18063/ijps.v6i1.1183
Copyright: © 2020 Patel, et al. 1. Introduction
This is an Open Access article
distributed under the terms Disasters are the most prominent catastrophes which severely hinder the growth and
of the Creative Commons pace of development of a country. In 2016, the world witnessed 191 natural catastrophes.
Attribution-Non Commercial Nearly 11,000 people died or went missing, and the profound economic loss from these
4.0 International License
(http://creativecommons.org/ disasters was estimated to be USD175 billion, the highest since 2012 (Swiss Re, 2016).
licenses/by-nc/4.0/), permitting Since 1970, the number of disasters worldwide has quadrupled to around 400 a year.
all noncommercial use, Natural disasters increased by 13.9% in 2015 over the previous year (Guha-Sapir, Hoyois,
distribution, and reproduction
in any medium, provided the and Below, 2016). Scientists believe that the increase in hydrometeorological disasters is
original work is properly cited. due to a combination of natural and man-made factors. Global warming is continuously

82 International Journal of Population Studies | 2020, Volume 6, Issue 1