Natural Disasters and Psychological Reactions of Victims. A Qualitative Study on the Romagna Flood and the Accumoli-Amatrice-Arquata Earthquake
Luna Celani, Manuela Zambianchi
The study investigated the psychological reactions following two natural catastrophic events, namely the Accumoli-Amatrice-Arquata earthquake and the Romagna flood. Taking as main theoretical references the Systemic Model of psychological trauma, the Shattered Assumption of World Theory, the Time Perspective, the Post-traumatic Growth, through a qualitative method, 13 subjects have been interviewed, 7 for the flood and 6 for the earthquake. Results. People show a good ability in narrating in a coherent manner the event; all the interviewed affirmed that it has provoked a temporal partition between before the event and after the critical event, on which they have redefined their biography. Relevant, for a positive elaboration of the traumatic event, the possibility to have a good social support, that produced in some of them a psychological post-traumatic growth. Old people show a notable resilience, while the loss of domestic objects such as photos, books and other symbolic materials impressed in their inner world an acute sufferance. Some differences based on specificity of the catastrophic event have been observed. Conclusions. A psychotherapeutic and counseling approach centred on the highlighted thematic can contribute to improve the life quality of the victims and favour a more constructive view of the future.
Keywords
Trauma, Earthquake, Flood, Cognitive emotional elaboration, Temporality, Resilience, Social support, Interviews.
