PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGICAL/HUMAN-CAUSED ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS: EXAMINATION OF THE NAVAJO AND URANIUM

Abstract: Disasters can be defined as catastrophic events that challenge the normal range of human coping ability. The technological/human-caused disaster, a classification of interest in this article, is attributable to human error or misjudgment. Lower socioeconomic status and race intersect in the heightened risk for technological/human-caused disasters among people of color. The experience of the Navajo with the uranium industry is argued to specifically be this type of a disaster with associated long-standing psychological impacts. The history of the Navajo with uranium mining and milling is reviewed with a discussion of the arduous efforts for compensation. The psychological impacts of this long-standing disaster among the Navajo are organized around major themes of: (a) human losses and bereavement, (b) environmental losses and contamination, (c) feelings of betrayal by government and mining and milling companies, (d) fears about current and future effects, (e) prolonged duration of psychological effects, (f) anxiety and depression, and (g) complicating factors of poverty and racism. The paper concludes with suggestions for culturally-appropriate education and intervention. There has been a proliferation of articles about disasters in the psychological and psychiatric literatures in recent years. Less apparent in these literatures is that certain groups are at greater risk for victimization by technological/human-caused disasters. In the intersection of socioeconomic status (SES) and race, people of color are especially vulnerable to contaminating conditions that compromise health and well-being (Bullard, 1993). The term environmental racism is applied to this phenomenon. Long-standing discriminatory practices that have suppressed the power o