Trauma and reparation in a community struck by earthquake: a clinical dynamic interpretation for post-emergency intervention

Journal title PSICOLOGIA DELLA SALUTE
Author/s Viviana Langher, Francesco Marchini, Daniele Brandimarte, Agnese Giacchetta, Andrea Caputo
Publishing Year 2019 Issue 2019/3 Language Italian
Pages 24 P. 98-121 File size 278 KB
DOI 10.3280/PDS2019-003006
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

The present study aims at investigating the community adaptation strategies to an earth-quake according to a clinical-dynamic perspective. In particular, it aims at highlighting traumat-ic and reparative aspects of community in order to widely inform post-emergency interven-tions. A case-study conducted in an area affected by Central Italy earthquake was conducted in 2016-2017. Twenty-five key-figures were interviewed and their texts were analyzed through Emotional Text Analysis (Carli e Paniccia, 2002) utilizing T-lab software, according to a indi-vidual-context paradigm based on the construct of collusion intended as a socialization process of shared emotions within the same context. Five textual groupings were detected through cluster analysis and three factors, through multiple correspondence analysis, allowing the ex-planation of their relationships. Results from participants’ narratives, in summary, showed (a) a dynamic of anaclitic dependence to adapt to loss and abandonment feelings evoked by earth-quake, (b) a strategy of hypervigilance related to a post-traumatic core featured by anxiety and worry about survival, and (c) a splitting process regarding ambivalent feelings towards territo-ry perceived as threatening but also idealized. Conclusive reflections shed light on potential post-emergency intervention such as the role of institutions in leading to post-trauma recovery.

Keywords: Earthquake, trauma, community, territory, clinical psychology, case-study.

  1. Folkman S. and Lazarus R.S. (1980). An analysis of coping in a middle-aged community sample. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 21 (3): 219-239. DOI: 10.2307/213661
  2. Alexander D. (1996). The health effects of earthquakes in the mid-1990s. Disasters, 20 (3): 231-247. 
  3. Altman I. and Low S. (1992). Place attachment. New York: Plenum Press.
  4. Balassanian S., Cisternas A. and Melkumyan M. (2000). Earthquake hazard and seismic risk reduction. Vol. 12. Dordrecht, NL: Kluwer Academic Publishers. DOI: 10.1007/978-94-015-9544-
  5. Bello O. and Aina Y. (2014). Satellite remote sensing as a tool in disaster management and sustainable development: Towards a synergistic approach. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 120 (19): 365-373.
  6. Ben-Ezra M. (2004). Traumatic events take their toll on mental health. Nature, 430 (7000): 611. DOI: 10.1038/430611
  7. Berman R. and Roel G. (1993). Encounter with death and destruction: The 1985 Mexico City earthquake. Group Analysis, 26 (1): 81-89. DOI: 10.1177/053331649326100
  8. Bertini M. (2012). Psicologia della salute [Health Psychology]. Milano: Raffaello Cortina Editore.
  9. Bonaiuto M., Alves S., De Dominicis S. and Petruccelli I. (2016). Place attachment and natural hazard risk: Research review and agenda. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 48: 33-53.
  10. Bronfenbrenner U. (1977). Experimental toward an Ecology of Human Development. American Psychologist, 32 (7): 513-531. DOI: 10.1037/0003-066X.32.7.51
  11. Brusa C. (2017). La secuencia sísmica de Italia Central de 2016. Análisis de efectos y daños observados [The Central Italy seismic sequence of 2016. Analysis of observed effects and damages]. -- Retrieved from: https://upcommons.upc.edu/handle/2117/112136
  12. Caputo A. (2013). Cultural models shaping stalking from a content analysis of Italian newspapers. Europe’s Journal of Psychology (EJOP), 9 (3): 443-460.
  13. Caputo A. (2015). Trends of psychology-related research on euthanasia: a qualitative software-based thematic analysis of journal abstracts. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 20 (7): 858-869. DOI: 10.1080/13548506.2014.993405
  14. Caputo A., Giacchetta A. and Langher V. (2016). AIDS as social construction: text mining of AIDS-related information in the Italian press. AIDS Care, 28 (9): 1171-1176. DOI: 10.1080/09540121.2016.115359
  15. Caputo A. and Rastelli V. (2014). School improvement plans and student achievement: Preliminary evidence from the Quality and Merit Project in Italy. Improving Schools, 17 (1): 72-98. DOI: 10.1177/136548021351580
  16. Carli R. e Paniccia R.M. (2002). L’analisi emozionale del testo: Uno strumento psicologico per leggere testi e discorsi [The emotional text analysis: A psychological tool for reading texts and discourses]. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
  17. Carli R. e Paniccia R.M. (2003). L’Analisi della Domanda: Teoria e tecnica dell’intervento in psicologia clinica [Analysis of demand: Theory and technique of psychological clinical intervention]. Bologna: il Mulino.
  18. Cox R.S. and Perry K.M. (2011). Like a fish out of water: Reconsidering disaster recovery and the role of place and social capital in community disaster resilience. American Journal of Community Psychology, 48 (3-4): 395-411.
  19. Deutsch R., Woolner L. and Byington C.L. (2014). Storytelling and Trauma: Reflections on “Now I See It,” a digital storytelling project and exhibition in collaboration with the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal. McGill Journal of Education/Revue des sciences de l’éducation de McGill, 49 (3): 707-716.
  20. Dirkwager A.J., van der Velden P.G., Grievink L. and Yzermans C.J. (2007). Disaster-related posttraumatic stress disorder and physical health. Psychosomatic Medicine, 69 (5): 435-440.
  21. Du Y., Ding Y., Li Z. and Cao G. (2015). The role of hazard vulnerability assessments in disaster preparedness and prevention in China. Military Medical Research, 2 (1): 27.
  22. Edrisi A. and Askari M. (2019). Earthquake Disaster Management with Considering the Importance of Recovery. Civil Engineering Infrastructures Journal, 52 (1): 115-135. DOI: 10.22059/CEIJ.2019.254789.147
  23. Elliott A. and Du Gay P., eds. (2009). Identity in question. London, UK: Sage.
  24. Fornari F. (1976). Simbolo e codice [Symbol and codex]. Milano: Feltrinelli.
  25. Forouzan A., Baradaran Eftekhari M., Falahat K., Dejman M., Heidari N. and Habibi E. (2013). Psychosocial Needs Assessment among Earthquake Survivors in Lorestan Province with an Emphasis on the Vulnerable Groups. Global Journal of Health Science, 5 (4): 79-84.
  26. Francescato D., Tomai M. e Ghirelli G. (2002). Fondamenti di Psicologia di comunità [Fundamentals of community psychology]. Roma: Carocci. 
  27. Gianturco G. (2004). L’intervista qualitativa. Dal discorso al testo scritto [Qualitative interview. From discourse to written text]. Milano: Guerini e Associati.
  28. Gist R. and Lubin B. (1999). Response to Disaster: Psychosocial, community, and ecological approaches. Ann Arbor, US: Brunner/Mazel.
  29. Goldstein E.G. (2001). Object relations theory and self psychology in social work practice. New York, US: The Free Press.
  30. Greenacre M.J. (2007). Correspondence Analysis in Practices (2nd edition). Boca Raton, US: Chapman & Hall/CRC.
  31. Guha-Sapir D., Hoyois P., Wallemacq P. and Below R. (2017). Annual Disaster Statistical Review 2016. The number and trends. Retrieved from: https://reliefweb.int/report/world/annual-disaster-statistical-review-2016-numbers-and-trends
  32. Hernández de Tubert R. (2006). Social trauma: The pathogenic effects of untoward social conditions. International Forum of Psychoanalysis, 15 (3): 151-156. DOI: 10.1080/0803706050052603
  33. Hobfoll S. (2014). Resource caravans and resource caravan passageways: A new paradigm for trauma responding. Intervention, 12: 21-32. DOI: 10.1097/WTF.000000000000006
  34. Huang Y., Tan N. T. and Liu, J. (2016). Support, sense of community, and psychological status in the survivors of the Yaan earthquake. Journal of Community Psychology, 44 (7): 919-936.
  35. Ishiguro A., Togita Y., Inoue M., Ohkubo T. and Yano E. (2015). Identification of disaster-vulnerable communities by use of census data prior to the Great East Japan Earthquake. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 9 (1): 19-28.
  36. Lancia F. (2004). Strumenti per l’Analisi dei Testi. Introduzione all’uso di T-LAB [Tools for Text Analysis. Introduction to the T-Lab use]. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
  37. Langher V. (2018). Quando i bambini hanno paura e gli adulti sono spaventati: teoria dell’attaccamento e risorse della comunità [When children are afraid and adults are scared: attachment theory and resources of community]. In: Mariantoni S. e Vaccarelli A., a cura di, Individui, comunità e istituzioni in emergenza: Intervento psico-socio-pedagogico e lavoro di rete nelle situazioni di catastrofe [Individuals, Communities and institutions in emergency: psycho-socio-pedagogical intervention and network in catastrophes]. Milano: FrancoAngeli, pp. 113-116.
  38. Langher V., Caputo A., Brandimarte D., Giacchetta A., Grippo A. M. e Nannini V. (2019). Simboli e significati nella cultura locale di una periferia urbana: Uno studio di caso [Symbols and meanings in a suburban’s local culture: A case study]. Rassegna di Psicologia, 36 (1): 21-38. DOI: 10.4458/1965-0
  39. Langher V., Fedele F., Caputo A., Marchini F. and Aragona C. (2019). Extreme Desire for Motherhood: Analysis of Narratives from Women Undergoing Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). Europe’s Journal of Psychology, 15 (2): 292-311.
  40. Langher V., Ricci M.E., Propersi F., Glumbic N. and Caputo A. (2016). Inclusion in Mozambique: a case study on a cooperative learning intervention. Cultura Y Educaciòn: Culture and Education, 28 (1): 42-71. DOI: 10.1080/11356405.2015.1120447
  41. Lazaratou H., Paparrigopoulos T., Galanos G., Psarros C., Dikeos D. and Soldatos C. (2008). The psychological impact of a catastrophic earthquake: A retrospective study 50 years after the event. The Journal of Mental and Nervous Disease, 196 (4): 340-344.
  42. Li S., Rao L.L., Ren X.P., Bai X.W., Zheng R., Li J.Z. and Liu H. (2009). Psychological typhoon eye in the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake. PLoS ONE, 4 (3): e4964.
  43. Liang Z., Xu J.H., Li S., Sun Y., Liu C.J. and Ye X.B. (2008). Perplexing problems in risk communication of emergent public security events: a psychological perspective. Journal of Natural Disasters, 17: 25-30.
  44. Margry P.J. and Sánchez-Carretero C. (2011). Grassroots memorials: the politics of memorializing traumatic Death, Vol. 12. New York-Oxford: Berghahn Books.
  45. Mariantoni S. e Vaccarelli A., a cura di (2018). Individui, comunità e istituzioni in emergenza: Intervento psico-socio-pedagogico e lavoro di rete nelle situazioni di catastrofe [Individuals, Communities and institutions in emergency: psycho-socio-pedagogical intervention and network in catastrophes]. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
  46. Matte Blanco I. (1975). The Unconscious as Infinite Sets: An Essay in Bi-Logic. London, UK: Gerald Duckworth & Company.
  47. Mitscherlich A. and Mitscherlich M. (1975). The inability to mourn: Principles of collective behavior. New York, US: Grove Press.
  48. Moscovici S. (2005). Le rappresentazioni sociali [Social Representations]. Bologna: Il Mulino.
  49. Myers D. and Wee D. (2004). Disaster mental health services: A primer for practitioners. London, UK: Routledge.
  50. Oliver-Smith A. (1986). The Martyred City: Death and Rebirth in the Andes. Albuquerque, NM: The University of New Mexico Press.
  51. Patton M.Q. (1990). Qualitative evaluation and research methods (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, US: Sage Publications, Inc.
  52. Plough A., Fielding J.E., Chandra A., Williams M., Eisenman D., Wells K.B., Law G.Y., Fogleman S. and Magaña A. (2013). Building community disaster resilience: perspectives from a large urban county department of public health. American Journal of Public Health, 103 (7): 1190-1197. DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2013.30126
  53. Pourhosseini S.S., Ardalan A. and Mehrolhassani M.H. (2015). Key aspects of providing healthcare services in disaster response stage. Iran Journal of Public Health, 44 (1): 111-118.
  54. Prager J. (2009). Melancholic identity: post-traumatic loss, memory and identity-formation. In: Elliott A. and Du Gay P., eds., Identity in Question. London: Sage, pp. 139-157.
  55. Priebe S., Grappasonni I., Mari M., Dewey M., Petrelli F. and Costa A. (2009). Posttraumatic stress disorder six months after an earthquake. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 44(5): 393.
  56. Protezione Civile (2017). Terremoto centro Italia: Fondo di Solidarietà dell’Unione Europea, oltre 23 miliardi di euro i costi dell’emergenza e la stima dei danni [Central Italy earthquake: European Union Solidarity Fund, emergency costs and damage estimates consist in over € 23 billion]. -- Retrieved from: http://www.protezionecivile.gov.it/jcms/it/view_com.wp?contentId=COM62565
  57. Puleo T.J. and Sivak H. (2013). Introduction: The Ambivalence of Catastrophe. Geographical Review, 103: 458-468.
  58. Ray B. (2017). Response of a Resilient Community to Natural Disasters: The Gorkha Earthquake in Nepal, 2015. The Professional Geographer, 69 (4): 644-654. DOI: 10.1080/00330124.2017.129845
  59. Regione Lazio (2014). Piano sociale di zona [Area Social Plan]. -- Retrieved from: http://www.socialelazio.it/prtl_socialelazio/?vw=pianizonaElenco.
  60. Searles H.F. (1960). The nonhuman environment in normal development and schizophrenia. New York, US: International Universities Press.
  61. Silver A. and Grek-Martin J. (2015). Now We Understand What Community Really Means: Reconceptualizing the Role of Sense of Place in the Disaster Recovery Process. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 42: 32-41.
  62. Simpson E. (2011). Blame narratives and religious reason in the aftermath of the 2001 Gujarat Earthquake. South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 34 (3): 421-438. DOI: 10.1080/00856401.2011.62055
  63. Smith R., McIntosh V.V.W., Carter J.D., Colhoun H., Jordan J., Carter F.A. and Bell C.J. (2017). In some strange way, trouble is good for people. Posttraumatic growth following the Canterbury earthquake sequence. Australasian Journal of Disaster and Trauma Studies, 21 (1): 31-42.
  64. Tapsell S.M. and Tunstall S.M. (2008). “I wish I’d never heard of Banbury”: The relationship between ‘place’ and the health impacts from flooding. Health and Place, 14 (2): 133-153.
  65. Tian Q., Han H., Zhang D., Ma Y., Zhao J. and Li S. (2018). Earthquake Trauma, Overgeneral Autobiographical Memory, and Depression Among Adolescent Survivors of the Wenchuan Earthquake. Frontiers in Psychology, 9: 2505.
  66. Wu Z., Xu J. and He L. (2014). Psychological consequences and associated risk factors among adult survivors of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. BMC Psychiatry, 14: 126. DOI: 10.1186/1471-244X-14-12
  67. Xu J. and Song X. (2011). Posttraumatic stress disorder among survivors of the Wenchuan earthquake 1 year after: prevalence and risk factors. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 52 (4): 431-437.
  68. Yzermans C.J., Donker G.A., Kerssens J.J., Dirkzwager A.J.E., Soeteman R.J.H. and Ten Veen P.M.H. (2005). Health problems of victims before and after disaster: A longitudinal study in general practice. International Journal of Epidemiology, 34: 820-826.

  • A systematic review of psychodynamic theories in community psychology: Discovering the unconscious in community work Andrea Caputo, Manuela Tomai, in Journal of Community Psychology /2020 pp.2069
    DOI: 10.1002/jcop.22407
  • The Impact of Past Trauma on Psychological Distress: The Roles of Defense Mechanisms and Alexithymia Siqi Fang, Man Cheung Chung, Yabing Wang, in Frontiers in Psychology 992/2020
    DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00992

Viviana Langher, Francesco Marchini, Daniele Brandimarte, Agnese Giacchetta, Andrea Caputo, Trauma e riparazione in una comunità colpita dal sisma: una lettura clinica dinamica per l’intervento post-emergenziale in "PSICOLOGIA DELLA SALUTE" 3/2019, pp 98-121, DOI: 10.3280/PDS2019-003006