The Psychosocial Consequences Of The Fukushima Disaster: What Are We Suffering From?

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident caused enormous damage in terms of not only the mental status of affected people, but also the cohesiveness of entire communities in Fukushima Prefecture. Regarding individual mental health, many psychiatric issues became apparent after the accident, including, but not limited to, posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and alcohol or another type of substance abuse. Widespread rumors and damaged reputations caused anxiety among residents and evacuees, eliciting various disparities such as risk perception factors related to compensation or the effects of radiation exposure. As a result, a decrease in community resilience was observed. Additionally, evacuees were frequently exposed to public stigmas resulting from the negative stories regarding compensation issues or the possible genetic effects of radiation exposure. To address these multidimensional mental health problems, several new and unique care facilities were established after the disaster with the aim of providing active interventions for and improving the current well-being of affected people, including evacuees. While a certain level of effectiveness in the provision of outreach services has been seen, issues such as burnout and exhaustion among health care staff working for different care resources have also been observed. In contrast to natural disasters, nuclear disasters tend to have long-term psychosocial consequences on affected people. Therefore, support care resources that could play important roles, especially in the post-disaster phase in affected areas, should be supported by national and local governments on a long-term basis.