ANN ARBOR—Forcing people to leave their homes in the Gaza strip alone did not cause depression or post-traumatic stress disorder, but rather the loss of social and economic resources that accompanied the move was the biggest predictor of mental health, new research shows.

Further, the study showed that women were more likely to have depression, and older people were more likely to have post-traumatic stress disorder, said Sandro Galea, associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

The common thread among all the groups was that tangible economic or social losses, such as loss of a job, house or family links, was the biggest predictor of declining mental health, depression and stress disorder.

Researchers interviewed 190 former residents of the Gaza Strip a week before the forced evacuation, asking them a series of questions to access their economic and personal loss, as well as their symptoms. The study is part of a series of work around the notion that loss of material and social resources are tremendous drivers of mental health, Galea said.

“Which also means it’s probably very important for physical health as well,” Galea said.

All of the study interviewees were forced to leave their homes in Gaza, but they suffered social and economic losses to different degrees, Galea said. Some moved directly to other occupations, some moved and settled again with their families or neighborhoods so that they kept social links intact.

The results suggest that if such a catastrophic event like the Gaza relocation is unavoidable, that material support for people in traumatic situations to protect them from financial and social loss is critical to their emotional and physical well-being, Galea said.

Galea, who studies the effect of disasters on mental health, said the prevalence of depression after a major disaster is about twice the baseline of what you’d expect.

“I think we frequently think of these as social service interventions,” Galea said. “The argument that emerges is the loss of these tangible resources is a tremendous risk factor to health, and the effort to buffer them from these circumstances should focus on mitigating social and economic losses.”

The paper, “The Psychological Impact of Forced Settler Disengagement in Gaza: Trauma and Post-traumatic Growth,” will appear in the Feb. 20 issue of the Journal of Traumatic Stress. Co-authors on the paper include: Brian Hall, Stevan Hobfall and Patrick Palmieri, Summa-Kent State Center for the Treatment and Study of Traumatic Stress, Akron, Ohio; Daphna Canetti-Nisim and Oren Shapira, University of Haifa, Mt. Carmel, Israel; and Robert Johnson, University of Miami.

The University of Michigan School of Public Health has been working to promote health and prevent disease since 1941, and is consistently ranked among the top five public health schools in the nation. Faculty and students in the school’s five academic departments and dozens of collaborative centers and initiatives are forging new solutions to the complex health challenges of today, including chronic disease, health care quality and finance, emerging genetic technologies, climate change, socioeconomic inequalities and their impact on health, infectious disease and the globalization of health. Whether making new discoveries in the lab or researching and educating in the field, SPH faculty, students and alumni are deployed around the globe to promote and protect our health.
For more on the School of Public Health: http://www.sph.umich.edu/

For more on Galea: http://www.sph.umich.edu/iscr/faculty/profile.cfm?uniqname=sgalea

School of Public HealthSandro Galea