Mental Health Morbidity in Women Thirty Months After the Death of a Child in the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake

Natural disasters have long-term health consequences on the occurrence of psychological problems such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Loss of children was also consistently related to high risk of developing psychological disorders including prolonged grief disorder (PGD). Women who have faced these circumstances simultaneously through losing a child in a disaster have high vulnerability to the psychological problems. This study investigated 226 bereaved mothers in Sichuan (China) by using structured interviews to gain an understanding of their mental health, particularly on anxiety, depression, PTSD and PGD, 30 months after the death of a child in the May 2008 earthquake. The results showed that 82.3% of the women had depression, 82.3% had PTSD, 88.9% had PGD and 33.6% had anxiety. 85.4% of the women had more than one disorder. The most prevalent co-morbidity was co-occurred with depression, PTSD and PGD (45.6%). Depression, PTSD and PGD were the major psychological problems among the bereaved mothers after the earthquake. Further studies are needed in order to understand the best advice and provide enhanced mental health care of such bereaved populations and suggest effective interventions for relevant organizations to improve health care services for them.