This could be anything from a lightning strike to a volcanic eruption. Such natural events have been known to kill and injure many thousands of people and are thus categorized as being natural disasters. So if you were going to write a natural disaster essay where would you start?
USA Abstract There is evidence that individuals experiencing natural disasters are at risk for long term physical and mental health problems, particularly if experiencing unbidden thoughts intrusions about the disaster. Interventions provided post-disaster, especially those that involve emotional expression, may help protect individuals from these negative effects.
This study examined if a brief, easily administered, structured writing task expressing thoughts and emotions about the natural disaster would attenuate the relationship between intrusions about the disaster and both negative affect and physical symptoms. These data suggest that future research examine the clinical utility of structured writing interventions for individuals who have experienced natural disasters or other trauma.
Structured writing about a natural disaster buffers the effect of intrusive thoughts on negative affect and physical symptoms There is considerable evidence that the experience of extremely stressful events can lead to both short and long-term psychological and physical health risks. This risk is exacerbated when the stressor is external and uncontrollable, such as the case of a natural disaster.
Interventions designed to reduce distress and promote psychological adjustment can greatly reduce the psychological and physical costs associated with a natural disaster.
Interventions applied shortly after the traumatic experience when individuals' resources both physical and psychological are at their lowest may be particularly needed, and also may reduce the likelihood of post-traumatic symptomatology flashbacks, intrusions, or - in its most extreme form - post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD].
There is evidence that individuals experiencing intensely traumatic events benefit from the opportunity to disclose e. One relatively recent disclosure intervention involves the expression of thoughts and feelings associated with a traumatic event through writing.
This process is somewhat distinct from typical construals of disclosure and emotional expression in that there is not another person as a target or recipient of the disclosure. We have previously argued that this may avoid some of the potentially negative social consequences of disclosing negative emotions in a social context e.
Accordingly, a structured writing intervention, asking individuals to express their deepest thoughts and feelings about experiencing a natural disaster, seems a promising post-disaster intervention. We use the term "structured" to indicate that the writing is typically done under certain constraints e.
This distinction is important in that it suggests the process of this writing intervention is unlike other "scriptotherapeutic" endeavors, such as homework assignments in the context of therapy, keeping a personal journal, and so forth.
There is considerable evidence that the traumatic experiences, such as natural disasters, can produce negative effects through altered cognitive processes. In particular, unbidden and uncontrollable thoughts i.
Intrusive thoughts may be a particularly important predictor of poor outcomes following disaster.
Baum studied community residents in the area surrounding Three Mile Island a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, USA following reports of a radiation leak and subsequent reactor shutdown.
Individuals in the vicinity of the power plant showed a variety of altered psychophysiological parameters higher levels of stress hormones, poorer immune functionhigher levels of psychological distress, and prolonged cardiovascular responses to stress Baum, Interestingly, at a six year follow up, only those individuals who reported relatively high levels of intrusive thoughts about the disaster showed signs of chronic stress and dysfunction Baum, Intrusive thoughts, within a cognitive processing framework, are thought to represent a breakdown in the process of cognitively assimilating traumatic experiences that are not easily accommodated in an individual's world view Janoff-Bulman, The intense negative emotions and autonomic activation associated with these intrusions are thought to be a mechanism whereby intrusions lead to poor health.
Lepore has noted that writing tends not to reduce the frequency of intrusions, but rather reduces their emotional impact. He found that, following writing, intrusions were unrelated to depressed mood in participants writing about a stressful event but intrusions were related to depressed mood in participants who had written about emotionally neutral topics Lepore, This suggests that, prior to structured writing, intrusions are associated with negative emotional states and autonomic arousal whereas, following structured writing, intrusions are not associated with such negative consequences as a result of cognitive assimilation, desensitization, or both.
The goal of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of a brief structured writing task on post-disaster adjustment. We hypothesize that individuals randomly assigned to complete the "active" form of writing writing about the natural disaster will show better post-disaster adjustment than individuals randomly assigned to write about emotionally neutral topics.
We examine adjustment as indicated by the impact of intrusive thoughts our measure of cognitive processing on levels of negative mood and physical symptoms.
Methods Study overview The inclusion criteria for this study were: Experimental procedures took minutes per participant. Potential participants first had the study explained in detail and provided informed consent.
They then completed self-report measures assessing demographic information, psychological and physical symptoms, and cognitive processing. Following pretest assessment, participants were randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group.
Participants in the experimental group were instructed to write in a structured way integrating their thoughts and feelings about their experience with the disaster. Control participants wrote in a similar fashion, but were asked to write about planning the upcoming week i.
This intervention has been successfully utilized in a variety of populations see Pennebaker, ; Smyth,and control participants report the time-management exercise is personally valuable although there is no evidence that it facilitates adjustment.
Participants were asked to provide consent to be re-contacted in three months for follow up assessment. In addition, a sample of participants was drawn from a geographically proximal area not affected by disaster for comparison processes.
These participants did not receive any intervention and merely completed assessment measures at baseline and follow up.
Participants This study initially recruited students 76 females and 33 males from the Eastern coast of the United States. Of these, 53 had been displaced from their homes as a result of a hurricane "Floyd" and subsequent flooding, 56 were not displaced. The hurricane and flooding were quite severe:With this in mind, the students are required to design a section about a chosen natural disaster to be included in a magazine.
Their sections need to include: cover page, title page, contents page, bibliography, report and a choice of either pictures, labeled diagram, map or eyewitness account.
May 17, · The task force continues to operate and will investigate any fraud committed in relation to a natural disaster. You can mail a letter to the Disaster Task Force at the following address: National Center for Disaster Fraud, Baton Rouge, LA %(6).
Disaster Report, known in Japan as Zettai Zetsumei Toshi (絶体絶命都市, The Desperate City) and in the PAL region as SOS: The Final Escape, is a PlayStation 2 survival action-adventure video game created by Irem.
It was released in Japan in by Irem, and in . Accidents and disasters – everything from plane and train crashes to earthquakes, tornadoes and tsunamis – are some of the hardest stories to cover. Reporters at the scene must gather information under very difficult circumstances, and produce stories on very tight regardbouddhiste.comng such an event requires all of a reporter’s training and experience.
How to Outline Your Essay on Natural Disasters Your natural disasters essay will be much easier to write if you take the time to map out your outline first. Your outline allows you to understand what the structure of your essay will be and what subjects you should cover within each section.5/5.
A natural disaster inquiry task with graphic organiser and newspaper article planning sheet. Students choose a major natural disaster event that has occurred somewhere in .