Psychiatric disorders in children at two year after the tsunami disaster in Thailand

Objective: psychiatric disorders caused by the tsunami disaster were investigated during two years after the event. psychiatric diagnosis and management were evaluated at one and two years after the disaster. methods: one thousand three hundreds and sixty four students from 2 schools were enrolled. three tests were used according to the students’ grades. those included pediatric symptoms checklist, childhood depressive inventory and the revised child impact of events scale (cries). dsm-iv psychiatric disorders were diagnosed by child and adolescent psychiatrists. results: psychiatric disorders were found in 142 students (10.4%) at one year after the tsunami disaster. of these, ninety students (6.3%) did develop psychiatric disorders after the event. at two years after the disaster, psychiatric disorders were found in 22 students (1.6%). the most common psychiatric problem was post traumatic stress disorder. one per cent of grade 4-6 students and 0.3% of grade 7-9 students had psychiatric disorders. the prevalence was lower in kindergarten (0.1%) and in grade 1-3 students (0.1%). conclusion: the prevalence of psychiatric disorders declined from 10.4% at one year after the event to 1.6% at two years after the event. the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in grade 4- 6 and 7-9 students was higher than that in kindergarten and grade 1-3 students. the most common psychiatric problem is post-traumatic stress disorder