Handbook on the State of the Art in Applied Psychology

CHAPTER 9Mental Health Consequences of Terrorist Attacks in Adults

Jesús Sanz and María Paz García‐Vera

Department of Personality, Assessment, and Clinical Psychology, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Abstract

In the past 20–25 years, terrorism has become a significant problem worldwide, affecting a great number of people and contributing to mental disorders. The main aim of this chapter is to describe the current state of the empirical literature on the psychopathological consequences of terrorist attacks in adult victims. Meta‐analytic and narrative systematic reviews of the scientific literature related to the subject published between the years 2010 and 2018 were searched using PsycINFO, Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), and Published International Literature on Traumatic Stress (PILOTS). This search resulted in finding nine systematic reviews. After analyzing these reviews, 10 conclusions are delineated regarding the impact of terrorism on mental health. In particular, we discuss the prevalence of mental disorders in adult victims, describe which mental disorders are more frequent, outline the course of these mental disorders, and ascertain which types of victims are most affected. A synthesis of these reviews suggests that, following a terrorist attack, victims who are affected both directly and indirectly, need psychological follow‐up and care in the short, medium, long, and very long‐term. The limitations of these conclusions ...