Disasters demand mental health services.

• Position: Mind & Body

Mental health services should be integrated into disaster response as part of emergency services planning, according to a study by psychiatrists in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The researchers sifted through over 1,000 articles, reviewing more than 200 that showed disasters can exacerbate existing problems and generate new disorders.

Many in the population will experience a natural disaster during their lifetime, while man-made disasters--such as terrorism and airplane crashes--can add to that burden. "Adverse mental health outcomes may not be as apparent as are physical injuries, such as broken bones, bleeding, and other obvious trauma, but our review clearly shows that mental injuries are prevalent and require a similar system for identifying, triaging, and treating these individuals, just as you would those with physical injuries," says Carol North, senior author of the study.

For instance, it is important to distinguish between those who are experiencing distress--which nearly everyone does in a disaster--from psychiatric disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) so that people can be treated appropriately. PTSD is the most common disorder associated with a majority of disasters, with nearly one in every three people who are exposed directly to severe disasters showing signs of PTSD and nearly one-fourth displaying signs of major depressive disorder.

The review also found that people at greatest risk for mental health issues are women, individuals with...