Abstract
Natural disasters in industrially developed countries are frequently experienced as emotional shocks but only rarely do they result in long-term psychosocial impairment (Mileti, Drabek, & Haas, 1975 p. 103; Schorr, Goidsteen, & Cortes 1982; Smith; North, & Price, 1986, p. 60); The trauma of technological hazards that disrupt the relatiohship between people and the biosphere, however, frequently last for years, impeding the psychosedal development of victims (Baurn, 1987; Erikson, 1976; Gleser Green, & Winget, i981). Gnrohic psychosocial irnpairrrierit does riot lit the common core of expected posthazard resporises and must give us pause to consider the Unique problems posed by willful or negligent contamination of the environment. Kaspersbn and Pljawka observed that the “major burden bf hazard management in developed societies has shifted from risks associated With natural processes to those arising from technological development and application” (1985 p.17).
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Kroll-Smith, J.S., Couch, S.R. (1993). Technological Hazards. In: Wilson, J.P., Raphael, B. (eds) International Handbook of Traumatic Stress Syndromes. The Plenum Series on Stress and Coping. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-2820-3_7
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