ABSTRACT
As we saw in the last selection, the experience of violence and other kinds of extreme disorder can result in demoralization, stigmatization, and physical and psychosocial harm (see Das et al. 2001). The current selection shares this focus as well as an emphasis on social adjustment related to relocation (see selections 29 and 33). It introduces the concept of cumulative adversity resulting from a combination of stress due to resettlement and past, present, and future psychophysical harm through radiation exposure and “radio-phobia” related to the experience of the Chernobyl disaster. Radiation survivors experience higher rates of a range of diseases and disorders that reach well beyond the expected set of cancers, reproductive and genetic disorders, and thyroid dysfunctions, to include immune system, cardiovascular, and developmental disorders. In addition, radiation survivors are susceptible to the psychosomatic manifestations of having experienced a disaster and having continued to live in the same area for years afterward. The effects appear to vary in proportion to the amount of exposure to radiation.
