Vulnarability Factors of Personal Traumatic Experience in Individuals Effected by Chernobyl Catastrophe. Oksana Garnets, UNESCO-Chernobyl Programme Project Coordinator, Ph.D. in Psychology I, Institutskaya St., Kyiv, 252001, Ukraine, telephone/fax 380 44 228 46 72, u-chern@mail.kar.net
Chernobyl catastrophe and its aftermath appeared to be experienced as a true traumatic event not by the all individuals involved. In other words the catastrophic life experience does not inevitably mean risk for the whole further life performance of the individual.
There are several factors significantly influencing the individual's vulnerability in situations of actual and potential risk. These factors are: (a) age - same post-catastrophe experience appeared to be different for individuals of different age groups (children, adolescence, adults and senior people); (b) way of involvement in the catastrophe consequences - being active actor in the consequence mitigation or having no control at all over the situation (surprise evacuation, planned resettlement from the contaminated area etc.); (c) personal resilience to traumatic experience. Knowledge regarding the actual scale of risk seemed to influence the future negative emotional experience in a very limited way.
Cooperative interaction of these factors results into two main types of personal reaction to the risk experience. The first one is 'traumatic' and could be considered as a kind of PTSD, that may influence negatively the whole life, leading sometimes to maginilization of the individual, substances abuse, suicidal behavior etc. The other one in more of a crisis type and is characterized by coping the crisis experience and incorporating it in the future life in a positive manner.
The most vulnerable groups from the age point of view appeared to be children and adolescents, (for example, the drawing of their life prospective had a break down at the time of the catastrophe and a very short and uncertain future). The other group with a similar picture is those who underwent surprise evacuation. Individuals in all these groups went trough the risk experience with a total lack of control over what was happening to them.
It should be assumed that the strongest impact on the individuals` emotional experience in a situation of risk has his locus on the continuum "control-helplessness".
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