Japanese Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine

In Japan, the Great East Japan Earthquake, which occurred on March 11, 2011, had led to lose many lives and survivor's entire fortune. Seventy five percent of survivors of mass disasters recover their psychological response even if they show a temporary response from stress. However, It is known that the prevalence rates of psychosomatic diseases (e.g. hypertension) and psychiatric disorders (depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, sleep disorder, abuse and somatic complaints) rise after disasters. We organized the volunteer group of the Japanese Society of Psychosomatic Medicine, and joined the team of mental health care in Fukushima. The activities of mental care for sufferers were very important, but the volunteers had to be trained to make contact with sufferers. The continuous assistance and activities which meet the need devastated areas, are required.

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The Kobe Red Cross Hospital's Department of Psychosomatic Internal Medicine was founded in 1996 with the purpose of treating physical and psychological problems in people who were victims of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in January, 1995. For the past 15 years, I have attended to the victims of such natural disasters. After the Niigata-Chuetsu Earthquake disaster in 2004, I was sent there as a relief doctor from the Hyogo Chapter of the Japan Red Cross Society. Based on these experiences, we think it is important for victims to be provided continuing physical, psychological, social and spiritual care for a long time after the disaster. In a disaster, victims experience many losses at the same time. Notably in the recent Great East Japan Earthquake disaster, victims experienced the following complex problems : loss of their homes and household effects from the tsunami, bereavement for their families and friends, personal injuries and disease, unemployment and economical loss, loss of their communities and hometowns where they lived for so long, and the loss caused by the nuclear power plant accident. In particular, the grief of the bereaved is deep and complex. When the bereaved cannot actually see the departed, the grief of the bereaved becomes even more complicated. Long-term grief care will be necessary for the people in the disaster areas.

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The knowledge which will be useful for the care of future contamination was summarized on the basis of the investigation after a JCO criticality accident, experiences of a resident care, and literature researches. After a contamination accident, the same reaction at the time of a natural disaster as well as a different reaction may occur. Furthermore, in addition to the feature of a large-scale man-caused disaster, it has the feature of invisible contamination, and the feature of a radiation incident added to it. As to the invisible contamination, the feature of uneasiness which spreads spatially, in time, and mentally is remarkable, and the distrust in information further raises the uneasiness. The features after a radiation incidence include a reckless run of complication on larger areas, long-term effect, fear of ill effects on hormone and genes, vulnerability of children and prenatal babies to radioactivity, disagreements in specialists' views, difficulties in measuring radioactive contamination, harmful rumors, complications of information, and reckless feedback cognition of coping behaviors. The care after radioactive disasters was divided into 1) the collective care for information addressers and residents, and 2) the individual care. The males of their prime were also considered to be a risk-factor which is common to a leader, and the aged victims contribute another high risk problem.

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Objectives : Peer-support refers to supports offered to people who have the same problem producing psychological stress. In this study, we examined whether 'persistence' in a person's psychological traits (Cloninger et al.) affects his or her changing moods by performing peer-support. Subjects : Twenty eight undergraduates participated in this study. All of them completed question items of 'persistence' which were parts of Temperament and Character Inventory. Methods : Subjects were assessed them mood using the Profile of Mood State (POMS) before performing peer-support (Baseline). After a week, peer-support had conducted. At the beginning, subjects were remainded of a stress event that they felt stressful. Then, their mood was assessed (Pre-support). The peer-support was conducted for 30 min, and their mood was assessed again (Post-support). Results : The median score for 'persistence' were obtained as a criterion for classing groups. Then, subjects were divided into high or low groups. The mean POMS scores were submitted to tow-way ANOVAs with group and period. In the fatigue factor of POMS, interaction between group and period was found. The high 'persistence' group showed a significant decreasing in POMS score in the post-support condition as a changing mood after performing peer-support. In contrast, the low 'persistence' group did not show such a counseling effect. POMS scores in baseline condition, pre-support condition, and post-support condition were at the same level. Conclusion : The results indicated that changing moods of peer-support were affected by the degree of 'persistence' in a person's psychological traits.

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