Katharina Buczek
According to the study, the Flint community’s rate of depression and PTSD are between three and five times higher than national estimates of U.S. adults. And this figure likely signifies just how much a disaster can amplify mental health issues.
Arron Reuben, the study’s leader, also detailed how the Flint community never got the mental health support they deserved following the water crisis.
“The vast majority of our [survey] respondents were never offered mental health services despite clear indication that the crisis was psychologically traumatic,” Reuben said.
At the same time, though, nearly one hundred percent of surveyed residents revealed that they changed their behavior following the water crisis. Plus, most still worry that their prior exposure to contaminated drinking water will cause future health complications.
So now, the researchers believe it is time for Flint officials to do more to support the mental health recovery of residents– who are a predominantly Black and low-income community that was already faced with various other mental health-eroding challenges prior to the water crisis.
“There is a clear, unmet need,” Reuben concluded.
To read the study’s complete findings, which have since been published in JAMA Network Open, visit the link here.
If true crime defines your free time, this is for you: join Chip Chick’s True Crime Tribe
Her Sister Stole Her Deceased Baby’s Name, And So She Went To Her House To Confront Her About It
