Mental health of nurses after the Fukushima complex disaster: a narrative review

Nukui, Hiroshi; Midorikawa, Sanae; Murakami, Michio; Maeda, Masaharu; Ohtsuru, Akira

Although the radiation exposure level in Fukushima was reported as much lower than that in the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Atomic Bombing and in Chernobyl [7] , the psychosocial impacts have highlighted the similarities between these situations, including the health issues related to radiation health risk perception [6] . A significant association was observed between concerns regarding late effects of the atomic bomb radiation and mental health conditions in Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors [21] . While radiation cannot be felt through the five physical senses, atomic bomb survivors reported that they felt a flash of radiation [22] . They reported being often scared of the sounds of thunder and airplane flight and sometimes closed their eyes and turned the lights on and off because of their memory of flashing lights-all symptoms of suspected PTSD. If people had directly heard the explosive sounds of the nuclear power plant, it could be expected that they would be vulnerable to PTSD onset. Although relatively few people reported similar experiences after the 2011 nuclear accident, PTSD-like symptoms did seed to be more frequent even those without such experiences, indicating high-risk trauma had been experienced by >30% of residents, based on the results of the Fukushima Health Management Survey [23] . Furthermore, subjects with a high traumatic symptom score reportedly have a tendency toward poor mental health [24] .