John Richardson

TL;DR: A significant minority of people in the high-affected communities reported persistent PTSD, depression, and psychological distress, indicating the need for promotion of the use of health and complementary services, community-based initiatives, and family and other informal supports, to target these persistent problems.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors aimed to map the prevalence and predictors of psychological outcomes in affected communities 3-4 years after the Black Saturday bushfires in the state of Victoria, Australia.

TL;DR: Conducting the study over five years and focussing on the role of social networks will provide new insights into the interplay between individual and community factors and their influence on recovery from natural disaster over time will expand understanding of long term disaster recovery needs for individuals and communities.

TL;DR: These findings provide the first evidence of disorder-specific patterns in relation to one's social connections after disaster, and underscore the need to adopt a sociocentric perspective of postdisaster mental health in order to better understand the potential for societal interventions in the wake of disaster.

TL;DR: Findings suggest that policy-makers need to recognize that the mental health consequences of disasters can persist for many years after the event and need to allocate resources towards those who are most at risk as a result of substantive losses and ongoing life stressors.