Citation

Shigemura J. Clin. Neuropsychiatry 2021; 18(2): 107-108.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Giovanni Fioriti Editore)

DOI

10.36131/cnfioritieditore20210205

PMID

34909026

PMCID

PMC8629080

Abstract

I read with great interest the manuscript entitled "Mental health and neuropsychiatric aftermath 35 years after the Chernobyl catastrophe: current state and future perspectives" written by Drs. Loganovsky and Marazziti (2021). The authors remind us of a very crucial message--when nuclear power plant (NPP) accidents happen, the most relevant long-term health outcome among the affected people is its psychosocial impact and not radiation-related cancers (Rahu et al., 2006). The authors also send us the importance of learning from the past and applying lessons in future clinical, research, and educational territories.

Nuclear disasters do not happen very often. The interval between the two worst NPP accidents classified as Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale--Chernobyl and Fukushima--was 25 years. This interval is long enough for people to forget the lessons learned from the past. On a personal note, I was a high school student in Japan when the Chernobyl disaster took place in 1986. I still remember the impact of a flash bulletin of the breaking news. Chernobyl was so far from Japan, but I was concerned about how the accident will affect the region as well as the surrounding area. I had read several books written by the survivors of the 1945 Hiroshima/ Nagasaki atomic bomb attacks. Those books had given me horrific images of nuclear bombings, but I did not have the knowledge to distinguish the differences between nuclear bombings and NPP accidents.

Fast forward to 11 March 2011...

Language: en