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Stress and Anger over BP Oil Disaster Could Linger for Decades

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  • Stress and Anger over BP Oil Disaster Could Linger for Decades

    Stress and Anger over BP Oil Disaster Could Linger for Decades

    By Dahr Jamail

    NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, Apr 15, 2011 (IPS) - As the one-year anniversary of the record-breaking BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico approaches, mental health experts and social scientists warn of decades of impact on Gulf residents.

    On Apr. 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, triggering a months-long disaster that would end only after at least 4.9 million barrels of oil, and at least 1.9 million gallons of toxic chemical dispersants, had been injected into the Gulf of Mexico.

    The environmental destruction, while massive, is still only in the beginning stages, and experts warn that it will take decades to see the full consequences.

    For Gulf residents, fishermen, and business owners, the same amount of time is expected for their struggles with depression, anxiety, anger, fear, and other psychological impacts directly attributed to this human-made disaster.

    "People are on edge," Dr. Janet Johnson, an associate professor of psychiatry at Tulane University, told IPS. "People are feeling grief. I'm hearing of physical illnesses related to the oil and people are worried about losing their home, their culture, their way of life."

    "People are becoming more and more hopeless and feeling helpless," Dr. Arwen Podesta, a psychiatrist at Tulane University in New Orleans, told IPS. "They are feeling frantic and overwhelmed. This is worse than [Hurricane] Katrina. There is already more post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and more problems with domestic violence, threats of suicide and alcohol and drugs."

    Dr. Podesta, who also works in addiction clinics and hospitals, said, "It's a remarkably similar experience to that of the stressors of Katrina. There is an acute event, but then a long-term increase in hopelessness with every promise that is broken. Like a promise for money to rebuild a life, then people are put through red tape and each time they fail to move forward, they take five steps back in their psychological welfare."



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    Last edited by sharon sanders; April 19, 2011, 10:07 PM. Reason: shortened
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