How We Felt and Considered about Our Experience of the Great East Japan Earthquake

Abstract

We need to pay special attention to the medical assistance to the Great East Japan Earthquake. This may be associated with the temperature, custom and culture of Tohoku people who are reticent and enduring. Although there are differences to some degree, the trauma and loss that many victims experienced have a significant impact upon mental and physical conditions. Many of them will recover by natural healing power, but in some people their conditions may be extended or become severe due to trauma, bereavement and other secondary factors. The problem is that some will develop mental diseases such as depression and post-operative disorder, but quite a few victims must have developed physical diseases due to various physiological function diseases and exacerbated their chronic disease due to stress association with the earthquake. Although many victims of Tohoku who have a strong tendency to suppression will be aware of a vague feeing of unwellness caused by disaster, it is predicted that they appear as psychosomatic diseases which are difficult for them to recognize as their own feelings and body sensations. Many physicians or psychiatrists will find it difficult to realize the pathogenesis of such psychosomatic disease. Needless to say, it is extremely important to notice the existence of disorders and to approach them from both physical and mental viewpoints. For the medical assistance to the reconstruction of the Great East japan Earthquake, we have high expectations for the work of the department of psychosomatic medicine.