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The Psychosocial Consequences of the Fukushima Disaster: What Are We Suffering From?

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Nuclear Emergencies

Abstract

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident caused enormous damage in terms of not only the mental status of affected people, but also the cohesiveness of entire communities in Fukushima Prefecture. Regarding individual mental health, many psychiatric issues became apparent after the accident, including, but not limited to, posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and alcohol or another type of substance abuse. Widespread rumors and damaged reputations caused anxiety among residents and evacuees, eliciting various disparities such as risk perception factors related to compensation or the effects of radiation exposure. As a result, a decrease in community resilience was observed. Additionally, evacuees were frequently exposed to public stigmas resulting from the negative stories regarding compensation issues or the possible genetic effects of radiation exposure. To address these multidimensional mental health problems, several new and unique care facilities were established after the disaster with the aim of providing active interventions for and improving the current well-being of affected people, including evacuees. While a certain level of effectiveness in the provision of outreach services has been seen, issues such as burnout and exhaustion among health care staff working for different care resources have also been observed. In contrast to natural disasters, nuclear disasters tend to have long-term psychosocial consequences on affected people. Therefore, support care resources that could play important roles, especially in the post-disaster phase in affected areas, should be supported by national and local governments on a long-term basis.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Disaster Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan

    Masaharu Maeda, Yuliya Lyamzina & Akiko Ito

  2. Radiation Medical Science Center for the Fukushima Health Management Survey, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan

    Masaharu Maeda, Yuliya Lyamzina & Akiko Ito

Authors
  1. Masaharu Maeda
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  2. Yuliya Lyamzina
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  3. Akiko Ito
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Masaharu Maeda .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Radioecology and Radiation Protection, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Hannover, Germany

    Georg Steinhauser

  2. Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine and Faculty of Medicine Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan

    Akio Koizumi

  3. Department of General System Studies, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, Meguro, Tokyo, Japan

    Katsumi Shozugawa

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Maeda, M., Lyamzina, Y., Ito, A. (2019). The Psychosocial Consequences of the Fukushima Disaster: What Are We Suffering From?. In: Steinhauser, G., Koizumi, A., Shozugawa, K. (eds) Nuclear Emergencies. Current Topics in Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8327-4_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8327-4_6

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  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-8327-4

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