The mental health consequences of disasters have been the subject of a rapidly growing research literature in the last few decades. Moreover, they have aroused an increasing public interest, due to the dramatic impact and the wide media coverage of many recent disastrous events—from earthquakes to hurricanes, from technological disasters to terrorist attacks and war bombings. The World Psychiatric Association has had for a long time a great interest and commitment in this area, especially through the work of the Section on Military and Disaster Psychiatry and the Program on Disasters and Mental Health. Several sessions on this topic have taken place in past World Congresses of Psychiatry, and other.
