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Chernobyl's psychological impact

emma.griffi05

Created on May 21, 2024

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Transcript

Psychological impact of Chernobyl

After 20/25 years, people are still showing psychological effects linked to the disaster. Liquidators revealed an increase in suicide and high depression level. They suffered a lot both physically and mentally.

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"In Kharkiv I learned to say this sentence: 'Where is my mother? My mother is in Kiev.' Then, when I finally came back and saw her again, she asked me 'where is your mother?' and I answered her 'my mother is in Kiev'. It was a difficult time for my mother because, of course, it seemed like I didn't recognize her."

Natalia Liubchenkova, Kiev, Ukraine (then Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic) - 135 km from Chernobyl.

After almost 20 years some studies were finally published. The results are not completely trustworthy though.

20 years later

In the meantime

When the nuclear reactor exploded, the huge amount of radiation spread in the atmosphere caused thousands of deaths. People were evacuated.

The accident

At first journalist struggled for finding information about the disaster, both in the neighboring cities and abroad. The Soviet Union rarely said anything.

What about the adults?

Adults were also driven crazy by the radiation and its effects. They mostly showed an enormous fear for their children's health, especially women.

Many mothers were convinced they would have given birth to sick babies.

Did children suffer or not?

  • The information we have about them are not complete.
  • Some children showed borderline intelligence
  • Others revealed emotional problems
  • Some are now parents themselves, it's important to resolve this issue.

There is no doubt that Chernobyl had an effect on the mental health of adults directly affected by the event, especially the liquidators and women with young children, which is why the 2006 Chernobyl Forum Report regarded mental health as the major public health consequence.