ID :
319203
Mon, 03/03/2014 - 09:51
Auther :

30 Pct of Disaster-Affected Japanese Kids Suffering PTSD

Tokyo, March 2 (Jiji Press)--Over 30 pct of children affected by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at present, a health ministry survey showed. The survey covered 198 children in the northeastern prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima who were aged three to five at the time of the disaster. "Those children grew up to be able to express their fears of the disaster or their grief of losing friends," said Takeo Fujiwara, a researcher at the National Center for Child Health and Development. They were interviewed by child psychiatrists over a period between September 2012 and June 2013. The survey showed that 33.8 pct of them had symptoms of PTSD, such as sleeping disorder and flashbacks. The percentage is much higher than 3.7 pct for children in the central Japan prefecture of Mie, who were surveyed for comparison. According to the survey, children with stronger PTSD symptoms were more emotionless than others when humorous videos were shown to monitor changes of their facial expression. Of 177 parents surveyed, 39.0 pct of those living in areas where residents are not very much connected with each other showed PTSD symptoms, while the proportion was limited to 23.2 pct for those living in areas with close neighborly ties. This gap reflects the effectiveness of cooperative relations among local residents in easing PTSD symptoms, researchers said. END

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