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Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Mental Health Effects on Residents in Heavily Affected Areas
Abstract
Mental health issues are a significant concern after disasters such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. This study was designed to assess the mental health effects on residents of areas of southeastern Louisiana affected by the oil spill.
Telephone and face-to-face interviews were conducted with residents (N = 452) assessing concerns and direct impact.
The results show that the greatest effect on mental health related to the extent of disruption to participants' lives, work, family, and social engagement, with increased symptoms of anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress. Given the location of the oil spill affecting communities that had been devastated by Hurricane Katrina, results also revealed that losses from Hurricane Katrina were highly associated with negative mental health outcomes. Conversely, the ability to rebound after adversity and place satisfaction were highly associated with better mental health outcomes.
Enhanced understanding of mental health effects after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill will help in determining directions for much-needed mental health services after the disaster and in contributing to the knowledge of complex traumatization and the ability to rebound after adversity.
... For example, research on industrial accidents and exposure to hazardous waste has documented increased rates of PTSD, depression, and anxiety among affected communities (Bromet et al., 2017). The collapse of waste management structures like landfills often leads to severe environmental contamination, which not only poses physical health risks but also induces chronic stress and fear related to long-term exposure to pollutants (Osofsky et al., 2011). ...
... Addressing these gaps requires targeted psychosocial interventions as part of disaster recovery efforts. Interventions such as mental health first aid, community support groups, and trauma-focused therapy can help individuals process their experiences and regain a sense of stability (Osofsky et al., 2011). Integrating mental health services into disaster response frameworks is thus critical to supporting the recovery and wellbeing of displaced populations. ...
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the mental health impacts of this disaster, focusing on the psychological resilience and vulnerability of displaced individuals. The study explores the mental health outcomes, including anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that have emerged as a result of the sudden loss of homes, livelihoods and social networks.
Design/methodology/approach
The research employed a phenomenological approach, conducting 20 in-depth interviews with adult residents of Kiteezi who were displaced by the landslide. The interviews, conducted in English and transcribed for analysis, focused on three primary phenomena: landslides, displacement and mental well-being.
Findings
Findings reveal that the collapse of the Kiteezi landfill had profound mental health impacts on the displaced residents, with widespread reports of anxiety, depression and PTSD. The loss of homes and livelihoods, coupled with the uncertainty surrounding resettlement, exacerbated these mental health challenges.
Research limitations/implications
The study’s implications are significant for disaster response and mental health intervention strategies. The findings underscore the need for comprehensive mental health support for displaced individuals, emphasizing the importance of addressing both immediate psychological needs and long-term resilience-building.
Originality/value
This study is original in its focus on the specific context of the Kiteezi landfill collapse, contributing to the limited literature on the mental health impacts of environmental disasters in Uganda. It provides valuable insights into the complex interplay between environmental disasters, displacement and mental well-being, offering practical recommendations for improving disaster response and recovery efforts in similar settings.
... Prolonged exposure to environmental contamination and heat stress has been linked to heightened levels of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in affected communities [132]. While PAH exposure may not directly cause PTSD, oil spill exposure, response, and clean-up have been linked to PTSD, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and depression [174][175][176][177][178][179] probably due to the impact of oil spills on livelihood. Public health agencies need to invest in mental health services, particularly in regions like the Niger Delta or the Gulf Coast, where communities face ongoing environmental degradation and the compounded effects of rising temperatures. ...
The rising global temperatures due to climate change have a profound impact on global health. Heat is associated with many physical and mental health conditions. The impact of heat on health could be exacerbated in polluted areas due to the combined impact of pollutants and heat stress. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are among environmental pollutants of public health significance. Exposure to PAHs has adverse effects on physical and mental health and these effects could be worse in oil-impacted communities due to increased PAH exposure and environmental degradation. Heat increases the volatilisation of PAHs, mobility and availability of PAHs, formation of toxic PAH derivatives, and possible wildfire incidents which introduce more PAHs into the environment. This increases human exposure to PAHs through various pathways, in addition to heat stress, thereby worsening mental health challenges. The anticipated decrease in PAH levels due to reduced emissions is offset by the impact of rising temperatures, which promote the mobilisation and volatilisation of existing PAHs. Therefore, this review highlighted the combined risks of heat and PAHs amid rising global temperatures, especially in oil-impacted communities. The various mechanisms through which heat could increase PAH risks were also highlighted. Possible pollution prevention, exposure mitigation, and environmental and public health intervention approaches were suggested. Rapid oil spill response, environmental remediation, ecosystem restoration, biomonitoring, environmental, and agro products monitoring could help mitigate exposure. Additionally, the introduction of green education, mental health impact assessment for every project, and investment in sustainable green technologies by the oil companies. Overall, this review creates awareness of the neglected impact of heat on PAH risks and draws the attention of researchers, funders, policymakers, and society to approaches to mitigate PAH risks as we navigate the challenges of climate change.
Graphical Abstract
... PAHs also bioaccumulate in marine organisms, indirectly affecting human populations through contaminated seafood consumption (Challenger and Mauseth 1998;Greiner et al. 2013). This makes food safety a critical public health issue, especially in communities that rely heavily on marine resources (Magalhães et al. 2022;Osofsky, Osofsky, and Hansel 2011;Xia et al. 2012). ...
Oil spills constitute one of the gravest threats to ecosystems and living beings. Exposure to oil pollution has the potential to yield a range of adverse health consequences for individuals. The aim of this study is to examine the intricate relationship between oil pollution and public health through a bibliometric review. The proposed methodology is broken down into four stages: (1) Search criteria, (2) Data collection, (3) Data processing and software selection, and (4) Data analysis and interpretation. The results highlighted a rise in scientific production over time, peaking in 2019. Research production is predominantly led by the United States. Leading authors in this domain include D. P. Sandler and L. S. Engel, notable for their volume of publications and citations. Co‐citation and keyword co‐occurrence analyses revealed “oil spill,” “human health,” and “public health” as recurring terms, underlining the core focus of the literature on these subjects. This study concludes that research on oil pollution and public health has surged notably in recent decades, with deep and pressing academic engagement evident in the literature. Future research appears set to follow a robust trajectory, with an increasingly globalized and collaborative emphasis.
... Ecological disasters often inflict trauma that extends beyond physical harm, creating emotional and existential distress in communities already burdened by historical injustices [37]. Research on man-made disasters, such as the Gulf of Mexico spill, shows that these events can have more severe mental health impacts than natural disasters, with exposed residents reporting higher rates of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder [25,[38][39][40][41]. ...
In February 2022, a fertilizer plant fire burned for four days and displaced thousands of residents, who were mainly low-income and Black or Latino, from their homes in Winston Salem, NC. In partnership with Black and Latino residents and nonprofit organizations, we sought to understand Black and Latino resident perceptions of the chronic and acute health risks, as well as the emotional and financial effects that resulted from the fire, which included the release of nitrous dioxide. We used the Environmental Health Disparities Framework to guide this community-engaged research study, capturing through semi-structured interviews: 1) how residents perceived their community before and after the fire, 2) how the fire impacted physical and mental health, and 3) how individuals coped with stress. We used thematic analysis to analyze the data and identified seven major themes. Participants: 1) perceived their neighborhood positively, 2) were unaware of the potential dangers of the fertilizer plant before the fire, 3) experienced adverse health and financial effects from the fire, 4) took action to protect themselves from the impacts of the fire, 5) raised concerns about the environmental impacts of the fire, 6) raised concerns about the city's response to the fire, and 7) provided recommendations for future city response.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-024-20235-z.
... In sport, for example, where athletes must overcome difficult challenges in order to succeed, psychological resilience enables individuals to adapt to unfavorable conditions [36]. Although psychological resilience is difficult to measure, previous research has shown that people with higher levels of psychological resilience tend to achieve better mental-health outcomes (e.g., with depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder) following natural and human-made disasters [37]. Preliminary evidence of the general psychological resilience of adults can be found in studies such as those on people's bereavement [38,39] and the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, USA, in 2001 [40]. ...
Background
The mental health of university students during the COVID-19 pandemic has attracted the attention of researchers. For the present study researchers constructed a mediation model to explore the relationship between psychological resilience and post-traumatic growth, the mediating role of negative emotions and the moderating role of deliberate rumination in students.
Methods
The Psychological Resilience Scale, Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, Depression-Anxiety-Stress Scale (DASS-21) and Event Related Rumination Inventory were used in a survey of 881 college students. The data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 and the PROCESS plugin (version 3.3).
Results
(1) Psychological resilience is positively related with post-traumatic growth. Deliberate rumination is positively related to psychological resilience, posttraumatic growth, and negative emotions. Psychological resilience, post-traumatic growth and negative emotions are negatively related. (2) Negative emotions mediated the relationship between psychological resilience and post-traumatic growth. (3) Deliberate rumination plays a moderating role in psychological resilience affecting negative emotions. Deliberate rumination plays a moderating role in the extent to which psychological resilience influences PTG through negative emotions.
Conclusions
Psychological resilience affects post-traumatic growth directly and also indirectly through negative emotions. With the increase of mental resilience, the level of negative emotion tended to decrease. When individuals are experiencing negative emotions, high levels of active rumination are more likely to promote post-traumatic growth. This study helps to explore the factors affecting the mental health of college students during the epidemic, thus providing guidance for appropriate mental health interventions.
... In Osofsky et al's (2011) study, findings affirmed that there was a negative correlation between psychological resilience and the symptoms of anxiety and depression in people who experienced a life-threatening crisis. This has strong similarities to the present study findings, which indicated that an individual's psychological resilience and mental health are positively correlated, suggesting that their mental health increases proportionally to their resilience. ...
المقدمة: زادت المخاوف الصحية ازديادًا كبيرًا في جميع أنحاء العالم نتيجة الانتشار السريع لكوفيد-19. فُرضت إجراءات الحجر الصحي الصارمة والتباعد الاجتماعي لاحتواء انتشار الفيروس، والتي بدورها قد تؤثر في صحة الناس النفسية. قيَّمت هذه الدراسة الصحةَ النفسية للسكان في المملكة العربية السُّعودية، وفحصت إنْ كانت المرونة النفسية للأشخاص يمكن أن تخفف من الآثار السلبية للحجر الصحي في صحتهم النفسية.المنهجية: وُزِّعت استمارة إِلِكترونية، وجُمعت بيانات (884) بالغًا بعد قضاء شهرٍ كاملٍ في الحجر الصحي.النتائج: أظهرت النتائج أن مستويات الصحة النفسية لمعظم أفراد العينة (88.1) كانت ضعيفة؛ وأنّ الأفراد الأصغر سنًّا وغير المتزوِّجين والطلاب تمتَّعوا بصحّة نفسية أفضل مقارنة بالمجموعات الأخرى؛ وأنّ ثمّةَ علاقةً ارتباطية موجبة (0.390) بين المرونة النفسية للفرد وصحّته النفسية أثناء الحجر الصحي. الخلاصة: كان لوباء كوفيد-19 تأثير في الصحة النفسية لعموم سكان المملكة العربية السُّعودية، وتناسبت درجة صحتهم النفسية طرديًّا مع مستوى المرونة لديهم.المصطلحات الأساسية: كوفيد-19، الصحة النفسية، الحجر الصحي، المرونة النفسية، المملكة العربية السُّعودية.
... Some of the costliest ones include the explosion in the port of Beirut (Lebanon, 2020), the oil spill from the sinking of the In addition, technological disasters also have effects on the mental health of those affected, as evidenced by research conducted after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, where elevated levels of depression and anxiety were increased, with a more signi cant impact on those who suffered economic losses due to the disaster. 9,10 This study aimed to examine the epidemiological pro le of technological disasters that occurred in the Americas between 2000 and 2021 in terms of morbidity-mortality and to analyze their temporal trends. ...
Background
Technological disasters in the Americas have significant public health and environmental implications, but there is limited epidemiological analysis of these events. This study aims to characterize the epidemiological profile of technological disasters in the Americas from 2000 to 2021, focusing on morbidity and mortality trends.
Methods
A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted. The ANOVA test was applied in the mean rates calculated for each type of disaster. The Mann-Kendall test assessed the presence or absence of temporal trends, and the Dickey-Fuller augmented test was used to determine if the time series were stationary. Predictions were made up to the year 2030 to mean mortality rate per million inhabitants, mean rate of affected individuals per million inhabitants, and mean rate of injuries per million inhabitants.
Results
A total of 733 technological disasters were recorded in the Americas. Statistically significant differences were found between the mean rates of affected individuals and the mean mortality rates per million inhabitants for each type of technological disaster. No trends were identified.
Conclusions
The highest rates of fatalities and affected individuals occurred within industrial accidents.
Technological disasters in the Americas have significant public health and environmental implications, but there is limited epidemiological analysis of these events. This study aims to characterize the epidemiological profile of technological disasters in the Americas from 2000 to 2021, focusing on morbidity and mortality trends. A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted. The ANOVA test was applied in the mean rates calculated for each type of disaster. The Mann-Kendall test assessed the presence or absence of temporal trends, and the Dickey-Fuller augmented test was used to determine if the time series were stationary. Predictions were made up to the year 2030 to mean mortality rate per million inhabitants, mean rate of people affected per million inhabitants, and mean rate of people injured per million inhabitants. A total of 733 technological disasters were recorded in the Americas. Statistically significant differences were found between the mean rates of people affected and the mean mortality rates per million inhabitants for each type of technological disaster. No trends were identified. The highest mean mortality rates occurred because of industrial accidents.
We take an ethics theory perspective to examine rule violations and workarounds in the UK construction industry in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The UK construction sector remained largely operational during lockdowns in the UK, providing an opportunity to explore the ways in which construction workers made ethical decisions in situ, related to health and safety at work, and COVID-19 rules. We conducted 22 semi-structured interviews with participants from 11 organisations (3 major construction companies and 8 subcontractors) during November 2021 to January 2022. Our qualitative analysis focused on coding responses based on the use of moral disengagement tactics, and the dimensions of moral intensity (magnitude of consequences, social consensus, probability of effect, temporal immediacy, proximity and, concentration of effect). We found instances of ethical dilemmas, including conflicts between compliance with organisational health and safety rules, and following COVID-19 rules. Our analysis showed that rule violations were often justified based on moral disengagement tactics, particularly cognitive reconstrual, obscuring personal agency, disregarding consequences and vilification of the victims. Furthermore, moral intensity played a significant role in making ethical decisions about violating rules. Moral intensity was most influential (across dimensions) for moral disengagement based on cognitive reconstrual (e.g., justifications for choosing to follow one set of rules over another). Social context was highly influential in workers’ ethical decisions, including organisational and group social norms, but wider societal attitudes towards the COVID-19 pandemic, also played a significant role. We discuss the implications for business ethics theory, policy and practice, including recommendations for businesses and policymakers.
This research examines chronic community stress associated with technological disasters using data from three case studies in the United States: a train derailment and toxic spill, a community contaminated by a superfund hazardous waste site, and an oil spill. Technological disasters are distinguished from natural diasters in terms of community impacts and recovery. Sociological and psychological research suggests that long‐term disruption and stress characterize these events. Results from the three case studies indicate the presence of chronic community stress and a relationship between perceived threat to health and level of community stress. These results are discussed in terms of the characteristics of technological disasters and the programmatic needs to mitigate their consequences.
Disaster mental health is a burgeoning field with numerous opportunities for professional involvement in preparedness, response, and recovery efforts. Research is essential to advance professional understanding of risk and protective factors associated with disaster outcomes; to develop an evidence base for acute, intermediate, and long-term mental health approaches to address child, adult, family, and community disaster-related needs; and to inform policy and guide national and local disaster preparedness, response, and recovery programs. To address the continued need for research in this field, we created the Child and Family Disaster Research Training and Education (DRT) program, which is focused specifically on enhancing national capacity to conduct disaster mental health research related to children, a population particularly vulnerable to disaster trauma. This paper describes the structure and organization of the DRT program, reviews the training curriculum, discusses implementation and evaluation of the program, and reviews obstacles encountered in establishing the program. Finally, key lessons learned are reviewed for the purpose of guiding replication of the DRT model to address other areas of community mental health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Random digit dialed telephone surveys are facing two serious problems undermining probability-based inference and creating a potential for bias in survey estimates: declining response rates and declining coverage of the landline telephone frame. Optimum survey designs need to focus reduction techniques on errors that cannot be addressed through statistical adjustment. This requires (a) separating and estimating the relative magnitude of different error sources and (b) evaluating the degree to which each error source can be statistically adjusted. In this study, the authors found significant differences in means both for nonrespondents and for the eligible population excluded from the landline frame, which are also in opposite directions. Differences were also found for element variances and associations, which can affect survey results but are rarely examined. Adjustments were somewhat effective in decreasing both sources of bias, although addressing at least one through data collection led to less bias in the adjusted estimates.
The 2010 Gulf Oil spill was an occupational, environmental, and community health disaster. This review summarizes the contaminants of concern, toxicologic consequences for humans and the ecosystem, lessons for worker safety, and mental health consequences in the community.
The well causing the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has been capped. However, the mental health effects of the oil spill are far from over and are likely to be enduring. Whether they will be similar to those seen after other oil spills, especially the Exxon Valdez spill, is not known at this time. Early mental health symptoms being reported are consistent with those reported after the Exxon Vaklez oil spill. Furthermore, in this event many of those most affected were still recovering from Hurricane Katrina's severe devastation. Stakeholders and local leaders worry that the ill effects will increase substantially over time.
The frequent occurrence of desynchrony between psychiatric symptoms and disability makes it necessary to measure disability/ functional impairment in addition to psychiatric symptoms when tracking treatment outcome. Existing disability measures in psychiatry are comprehensive but lengthy. There is a need for short, simple, cost-effective, sensitive measures of disability and functional impairment in psychiatric disorders. We developed a discretized analog disability scale (DISS) which uses visual-spatial, numeric and verbal descriptive anchors to assess disability across three domains: work, social life and family life. The DISS has proved to be very sensitive to change in drug treatment studies in psychiatry. The usefulness of the DISS in assessing disability in terms of work, social and family relationships is discussed.
Errors in Byline, Author Affiliations, and Acknowledgment. In the Original Article titled “Prevalence, Severity, and Comorbidity of 12-Month DSM-IV Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication,” published in the June issue of the ARCHIVES (2005;62:617-627), an author’s name was inadvertently omitted from the byline on page 617. The byline should have appeared as follows: “Ronald C. Kessler, PhD; Wai Tat Chiu, AM; Olga Demler, MA, MS; Kathleen R. Merikangas, PhD; Ellen E. Walters, MS.” Also on that page, the affiliations paragraph should have appeared as follows: Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass (Drs Kessler, Chiu, Demler, and Walters); Section on Developmental Genetic Epidemiology, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Md (Dr Merikangas). On page 626, the acknowledgment paragraph should have appeared as follows: We thank Jerry Garcia, BA, Sara Belopavlovich, BA, Eric Bourke, BA, and Todd Strauss, MAT, for assistance with manuscript preparation and the staff of the WMH Data Collection and Data Analysis Coordination Centres for assistance with instrumentation, fieldwork, and consultation on the data analysis. We appreciate the helpful comments of William Eaton, PhD, Michael Von Korff, ScD, and Hans-Ulrich Wittchen, PhD, on earlier manuscripts. Online versions of this article on the Archives of General Psychiatry Web site were corrected on June 10, 2005.
As the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster enters its next phase, consensus is emerging that among its most profound immediate health effects are those on the emotional and psychosocial health of Gulf Coast communities. State mental health and substance-abuse agencies report an increase in emotional distress and demand for assistance. Calls to domestic-violence hotlines are increasing. Fishermen fear for their families' economic future, and communities wonder how the influx of clean-up workers and volunteers will affect their way of life. Most major disasters, including the Exxon Valdez spill, Hurricane Katrina, and the 9/11 attacks, have been followed by increases in the . . .