Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T09:37:36.887Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Psychosocial Framework for Understanding Psychological Distress Among Survivors of the November 26, 2008 Mumbai Terror Attack: Beyond Traumatic Experiences and Emergency Medical Care

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2014

Jacquleen Joseph*
Affiliation:
Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Deonar, Mumbai India
Surinder Jaswal
Affiliation:
Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Deonar, Mumbai India
*
Correspondance: Jacquleen Joseph, PhD Jamsetji Tata Center For Disaster Management Tata Institute of Social Sciences Post Box No 8313 Opp Deonar Bus Depot Mumbai, Maharashtra 400088 E-mail [email protected]

Abstract

The field of “Public Health in Disasters and Complex Emergencies” is replete with either epidemiological studies or studies in the area of hospital preparedness and emergency care. The field is dominated by hospital-based or emergency phase-related literature, with very little attention on long-term health and mental health consequences. The social science, or the public mental health perspective, too, is largely missing. It is in this context that the case report of the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terror attack survivors is presented to bring forth the multi-dimensional and dynamic long-term impacts, and their consequences for psychological well-being, two years after the incident. Based on literature, the report formulates a theoretical framework through which the lived experiences of the survivors is analyzed and understood from a social science perspective.

This report is an outcome of the ongoing work with the survivors over a period of two years. A mixed methodology was used. It quantitatively captures the experience of 231 families following the attack, and also uses a self-reporting questionnaire (SRQ), SRQ20, to understand the psychological distress. In-depth qualitative case studies constructed from the process records and in-depth interviews focus on lived experiences of the survivors and explain the patterns emerging from the quantitative analysis.

This report outlines the basic profile of the survivors, the immediate consequences of the attack, the support received, psychological consequences, and the key factors contributing to psychological distress. Through analysis of the key factors and the processes emerging from the lived experiences that explain the progression of vulnerability to psychological distress, this report puts forth a psychosocial framework for understanding psychological distress among survivors of the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terror attack.

Joseph J, Jaswal S. Psychosocial Framework for Understanding Psychological Distress Among Survivors of the November 26, 2008 Mumbai Terror Attack: Beyond Traumatic Experiences and Emergency Medical Care. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2014;29(3):1-8.

Type
Case Report
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. India Assessment 2013. South Asia Terrorism Portal website. http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/index.html. Accessed July 1, 2013.Google Scholar
2. Terrorist Attacks in Mumbai Since 1993. South Asia Terrorism Portal website. http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/database/mumbai_blast.htm. Accessed July 1, 2013.Google Scholar
3. Johnson, RJ, Hobfoll, SE. Mental health and terrorism. In Scheid TL, Brown TN, eds. A Handbook for the Study of Mental Health, Social Contexts, Theories and Systems (Second edition). New York: Cambridge University Press; 2009:384-405.Google Scholar
4. De Bocanegra, HT, Moskalenko, S, Chan, P. PTSD and depression among displaced Chinese workers after the World Trade Center attack: a follow-up study. Journal of Urban Health–Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine. 2005;82(3):364-369.Google Scholar
5. Galea, S, Vlahov, D, Resnick, H, et al. Trends of probable post-traumatic stress disorder in New York City after the September 11 terrorist attacks. American Journal of Epidemiology. 2003;158(6):514-524.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6. Hobfoll, SE, Lomranz, J, Johnson, RJ, Eyal, N, Zemach, M. A nation's response to attack: Israelis’ depressive reactions to the Gulf War. Journal of Traumatic Stress. 1994;7(1):59-73.Google Scholar
7. Lee, A, Isaac, M, Janca, A. Post-traumatic stress disorder and terrorism. Current Opinion in Psychiatry. 2002;15(6):633-637.Google Scholar
8. Lating, JM, Sherman, MF, Everly, GS, Lowry, JL, Peragine, TF. PTSD reactions and functioning of American Airlines flight attendants in the wake of September 11. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 2004a; 192(6):435-441.Google Scholar
9. Lating, JM, Sherman, MF, Everly, GS, Lowry, JL, Peragine, TF. PTSD reactions and coping responses of east coast and west coast American Airlines flight attendants after September 11: a possible psychological contagion effect? Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 2004b; 192(12):876-879.Google Scholar
10. Blaikie, P, Cannon, T, Davis, I, Wisner, B. At Risk: Natural Hazards, People's Vulnerability, and Disasters. London: Routledge; 1994.Google Scholar
11. Oliver-Smith, A. What is a disaster? Anthropological perspectives on a persistent question. In Oliver-Smith A, Hoffman S, eds. The Angry Earth: Disaster in Anthropological Perspective. New York: Routledge; 1999:18-33.Google Scholar
12. Zaman, MQ. Vulnerability, disaster, and survival in Bangladesh: three case studies. In: Oliver-Smith A, Hoffman S, eds. The Angry Earth: Disaster in Anthropological Perspective. New York: Routledge; 1999:192-209.Google Scholar
13. Hilhorst, D, Bankoff, G. Introduction: mapping vulnerability. In Bankoff G, Frerks G, Hilhorst D, eds. Mapping Vulnerability: Disasters, Development and People. London: Earthscan; 2004:1-9.Google Scholar
14. Der-Butterfill, ES, Marianti, R. A framework for understanding old-age vulnerabilities. Ageing and Society. 2006;26(1):9-35.Google Scholar
15. House, JS. Social structure and personality. In: Rosenberg M, Turner RH, eds. Social Psychology: Sociological Perspectives. New York: Basic Books; 1981:525-561.Google Scholar
16. McLeod, JD, Lively, KJ. Social structure and personality. In: Delamater JD, ed. Handbook of Social Psychology. New York: Kluwer/Plenum; 2003:77-102.Google Scholar
17. Stryker, S, Statham, A. Symbolic interaction and role theory. In: Lindzey G, Aronson E, eds. Handbook of Social Psychology. NewYork: Random House; 1985:311-378.Google Scholar
18. Heise, DR. Understanding social interaction with affect control theory. In: Berger J, Zelditch M, eds. New Directions in Contemporary Sociological Theory. Rowman and Littlefield: Boulder Co.; 2002:17-40.Google Scholar
19. Charmaz, K. The social construction of self-pity in the chronically ill. In: Denzin ND, ed. Studies of Symbolic Interaction. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press; 1980;3:123-146.Google Scholar
20. Pearlin, LI. Role strains and personal stress. In: Kaplan HB, ed. Psychosocial Stress: Trends in Theory and Research. New York: Academic Press; 1983:3-32.Google Scholar
21. Pearlin, LI. The sociological study of stress. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour. 1989;30:241-256.Google Scholar
22. Simon, RW. Gender, multiple roles, role meaning, and mental health. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour. 1995;36:182-194.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
23. Thiots, PA. On merging identity theory and stress research. Social Psychology Quarterly. 1991;54:101-112.Google Scholar
24. Thiots, PA. Identity structures and psychological well-being: gender and marital status comparisons. Social Psychology Quarterly. 1992;55:236-256.Google Scholar
25. Wortman, CB, Silver, RC, Kessler, RC. The meaning of loss and adjustment to bereavement. In: Stroebe MS, Hansson RO, eds. Handbook of Bereavement: Theory and Research Intervention. New York: Cambridge University Press; 1993:349-366.Google Scholar
26. Simon, RW. The meanings individuals attach to role-identities and their implications for mental health: a missing link? In: Bird CE, Conrad P, Fremont AM, eds. Handbook of Medical Sociology (fifth edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall; 1997;68-78.Google Scholar
27. Kemper, TD. A social interactional theory of emotions. New York: Wiley; 1978:ix-459.Google Scholar
28. Kemper, TD. Social relations and emotions: a structural approach. In: Kemper TD, ed. Research Agendas in the Sociology of Emotions. New York: Albany; 1990:207-237.Google Scholar
29. Heise, DR. Understanding events: affect and the construction of social action. New York: Cambridge University Press; 1979:1-152.Google Scholar
30. WHO. User's Guide to the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ). World Health Organization: Geneva 1994.Google Scholar
31. Jaswal, SKP. Gynecological and mental health of low-income urban women in India, PhD thesis. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine: London 1995.Google Scholar
32. Harpham, T, Reichenheim, M, Oser, R, et al. Measuring mental health in a cost-effective manner. Health Policy and Planning. 2003;18(3):344-349.Google Scholar