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Chapter 20 - Social Identity and Traumatic Stress in the Context of an Earthquake and a Pandemic

Understanding the Roles of Shared and Isolating Social Experiences

from Section 3 - The Role of the Public in Emergencies: Survivors, Bystanders, and Volunteers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2024

By
Orla Muldoon
Edited by
Richard Williams ,
Verity Kemp ,
Keith Porter ,
Tim Healing  and
John Drury
Richard Williams
Affiliation:
University of South Wales
Verity Kemp
Affiliation:
Independent Health Emergency Planning Consultant
Keith Porter
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
Tim Healing
Affiliation:
Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London
John Drury
Affiliation:
University of Sussex
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Summary

A social identity explanation is used to offer insight into who is and who is not affected by trauma, using two examples from data collected after an earthquake in Nepal in 2015 and during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Traumatic experience is not equally distributed across any population, and the likelihood of experiencing an extreme event is affected by group membership and particularly the status of different groups. Attributes of groups and the resources that they offer to members can be important in driving risk and resilience. The chapter offers evidence that trauma and social identities are inherently linked, and that changes in our social identity resources have substantial consequences for health and wellbeing. Derived from this approach, we can recognise those people who are likely to have short-term versus long-term impacts as a consequence of traumatic experiences. Finally, the chapter discusses how this work can inform policy and practice.

Keywords

group statuspost-traumatic growthpost-traumatic stress disorderPTSDresiliencesocial identitytrauma
Type
Chapter
Information
Major Incidents, Pandemics and Mental Health
The Psychosocial Aspects of Health Emergencies, Incidents, Disasters and Disease Outbreaks
 , pp. 141 - 146
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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