Reacciones psicológicas ante un desastre natural: La inundación de El Limón

Abstract

The study reports the psychological reactions of flood victims in tile El Limon community (State of Aragua, Venezuela). Ten persons who lost all their belongings and some relatives (high victimization group) and ten persons who lost only their belongings (low victimization group) were given a short battery of psychological tests and an interview. Twenty non-victims (Control Group) were given tile psychological tests only. The work was guided by Taylor's Theory of Cognitive Adaptation (TCA) which focuses on three themes: The persons attempts (a) to find meaning for the aversive experience, (b) to regain personal control over the surroundings, and (c) to bolster selfesteem. Results showed that nine months after disaster the victims were equivalent to the non-victims in beliefs about personal control, control by powerful others, control by chance, passive hope, and self-esteem. At the same time, victims showed higher depression symptoms than non-victims, as measured by Beck's Depression Inventory. The specific symptoms in which victims were higher than non-victims were sadness, sleep, appetite, and sexual interest. It is concluded that the TCA was useful for explaining the psychological recovery of victims of a major natural tragedy.