Psychological Effects of Weapons of Mass Destruction

• NCJ Number: 189835
• Journal: The Beacon Volume: 3 Issue: 7 Dated: April 2001 Pages: 1-3
• Author(s): Marion C. Warwick M.D.
• Date Published: April 2001
• Length: 3 pages
• Publication Format: News/Media
• Publication Type: State Plan
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: These issues were discussed at a conference entitled, “The Operational Impact of Psychological Casualties from Weapons of Mass Destruction,” sponsored by the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, July 25-27, 2000.

Annotation

This article describes the care and prevention of psychological distress related to a mass casualty event.

Abstract

First, for appropriate care, psychological victims need to be considered in planning. Judging from past occurrences of terrorist events, experience has shown that there may be anywhere from four to twenty psychological victims for every physical victim in a mass casualty event. Some of the factors associated with an increased number of psychological casualties are number of casualties; lack of general knowledge about the cause; physical proximity to location of event; and increased publicity and media coverage afterwards. Careful estimates of the numbers of victims needing medical care, and what kind of care they will need, will be valuable for effective consequence planning. For individual patients, psychological effects can be described on a spectrum, from "worried well" to "shell shock" victims, literally incapacitated from psychological stress. Other syndromes include becoming accident-prone, developing unexplained physical symptoms, or behavioral and conduct disorders. For those taking care of victims of a mass casualty incident, differential diagnosis is neither trivial nor easy due to the fact that victims can manifest real physical symptoms such as rashes and vomiting, for which the cause is not always easily distinguished. Persons responding to a mass casualty event may also become psychological casualties. Provisions for psychological care include restoration of an effective social role and return to usual sources of support. Psychological effects in the public should be mitigated through an efficient response and accurate reporting. For prevention of psychological distress, continued efforts to develop effective response plans are critical so that media staff would be better prepared to provide accurate coverage that minimizes a negative impact on the public, and the public would have a better awareness on how to handle the consequential stress.