Arinobu Hori1, Hiroshi Hoshino2, Itaru Miura2, Masaki Hisamura3, Akira Wada2, Shuntaro Itagaki2, Yasuto Kunii4, Junya Matsumoto2, Hirobumi Mashiko2, Craig L Katz5, Hirooki Yabe2, Shin-Ichi Niwa6. 1. Department of Disaster and Comprehensive Medicine, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima, Japan. Electronic address: arinobu.h@gmail.com. 2. Department of Neuropsychiatry, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima, Japan. 3. Department of Emergency Medicine Saitama Medical Center, Saitama Medical University, Saitama, Japan. 4. Department of Neuropsychiatry, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima, Japan; Department of Psychiatry, Aizu Medical Center, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima, Japan. 5. Departments of Psychiatry and Medical Education, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY. 6. Department of Psychiatry, Aizu Medical Center, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima, Japan.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: After the 3.11 complex disaster, fear of radioactive contamination and forced evacuation influenced a number of residents to seek psychiatric care. OBJECTIVES: This study assessed the sequential changes in the number of new outpatients and patients with acute stress disorder (ASD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), adjustment disorder, and depression after the Fukushima disaster. METHODS: We distributed questionnaires to 77 psychiatric institutions to determine the number of new outpatients between March and June in 2010, 2011, and 2012. FINDINGS: There were 771, 1000, and 733 new patients in 2010, 2011, and 2012, respectively. We observed a statistically significant increase in new patients with ASD or PTSD and a significant decrease in patients with depression in 2011, which returned to predisaster levels in 2012. CONCLUSIONS: There were time- and disease-dependent changes in the numbers of psychiatric care-seeking individuals after the 3.11 complex disaster in Fukushima.
BACKGROUND: After the 3.11 complex disaster, fear of radioactive contamination and forced evacuation influenced a number of residents to seek psychiatric care. OBJECTIVES: This study assessed the sequential changes in the number of new outpatients and patients with acute stress disorder (ASD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), adjustment disorder, and depression after the Fukushima disaster. METHODS: We distributed questionnaires to 77 psychiatric institutions to determine the number of new outpatients between March and June in 2010, 2011, and 2012. FINDINGS: There were 771, 1000, and 733 new patients in 2010, 2011, and 2012, respectively. We observed a statistically significant increase in new patients with ASD or PTSD and a significant decrease in patients with depression in 2011, which returned to predisaster levels in 2012. CONCLUSIONS: There were time- and disease-dependent changes in the numbers of psychiatric care-seeking individuals after the 3.11 complex disaster in Fukushima.