Current research and recent breakthroughs on the mental health effects of disasters

A large existing academic disaster mental health literature provides a foundation to help guide disaster mental health response. Recent studies, however, have indicated that reconceptualization of certain mental health aspects of disasters may be indicated to guide further research to inform the planning and implementation of disaster mental health interventions. In particular, there is need to more carefully measure specific postdisaster disorders and syndromes using full diagnostic assessments, differentiate pre-existing from incident (new) postdisaster psychopathology, appropriately consider disaster trauma exposure groups in assessing psychopathology, and conduct prospective follow-up assessments over time from the acute postdisaster period to the long term. Further descriptive and longitudinal research is needed to better characterize the occurrence and course of fully-assessed psychiatric disorders after different disasters, clarify the role of disaster trauma exposures in the development of postdisaster psychopathology, and deconstruct confounding effects in determination of causalities in mental health consequences of disasters.