{"id":521355,"date":"2026-03-13T15:16:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T15:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/521355\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T15:16:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T15:16:28","slug":"mental-health-crisis-after-2023-maui-wildfires-extends-beyond-burn-zones-maui-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/521355\/","title":{"rendered":"Mental health crisis after 2023 Maui wildfires extends beyond burn zones : Maui Now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\"\"A split screen shows Lahaina town after the August 2023 wildfires and with current rebuilding. The image was shared during Mayor Richard Bissen\u2019s State of the County address last week. PC: County of Maui \/ Mia A\u02bbi<\/p>\n

The 2023 Maui wildfires were linked to significantly higher levels of depression and anxiety among residents, with impacts extending beyond the burn zones and closely tied to housing and income disruption. That\u2019s according to a new University of Hawai\u02bbi at M\u0101noa study published March 11 in\u00a0\u201cJAMA Psychiatry<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The study examined 2,453 adults, including 1,535 wildfire-exposed residents on Maui and 918 unexposed residents from other Hawai\u02bbi counties. The data was gathered between January 2024 and February 2025 through the\u00a0Maui Wildfire Exposure Study<\/a>\u00a0(MauiWES) and the\u00a0UH Economic Research Organization<\/a>\u2019s (UHERO) Rapid Health Survey.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

VC: University of Hawai\u02bbi \/ Video Edit: Wendy Osher<\/p>\n

Key findings<\/p>\n

Residents inside burn zones had a 53% higher risk of depression and 67% higher risk of anxiety compared to unexposed residents.<\/p>\n

Maui residents living outside burn zones also experienced significantly elevated mental health risks, including more than double the risk of suicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n

More than half of the wildfire\u2019s impact on depression and anxiety could be traced to housing instability and lost income.<\/p>\n

Being employed was strongly protective against depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation.<\/p>\n

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD<\/p>\n

\u201cThese findings show that the wildfire\u2019s psychological toll is not confined to the areas that burned,\u201d said lead author and UHERO Professor Ruben Juarez. \u201cThe social and economic disruption\u2014especially housing instability and income disruption\u2014is driving much of the distress we see across the community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Co-author and\u00a0John A. Burns School of Medicine<\/a>\u00a0Professor Alika K. Maunakea added, \u201cClimate disasters affect biological, social and economic systems at the same time. If we only rebuild structures and do not stabilize housing, employment and mental health services, we leave communities vulnerable long after the smoke clears.\u201d<\/p>\n

Co-author Christopher Knightsbridge, a mental health therapist from MauiWES based in Lahaina, said, \u201cThe harm did not stop at the burn zone. Housing disruption and income loss have extended the crisis into daily life, which is why recovery must include stronger housing, economic, and mental health supports.\u201d<\/p>\n

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD<\/p>\n

The August 2023 fires, which killed more than 100 people and destroyed more than 2,200 structures, displaced an estimated 10,000 residents. The study found that psychological distress persisted six to 18 months after the disaster.<\/p>\n

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ADARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD<\/p>\n

UHERO is housed in the\u00a0College of Social Sciences<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A split screen shows Lahaina town after the August 2023 wildfires and with current rebuilding. The image was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[235225,2763,96426,235226,2754,97,252,253,235227,235228,87233,197777,235229,235230,235231,235232,259,103615,235233,96429,5642,108314,108723,235234],"class_list":["post-521355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-alika-maunakea","tag-anxiety","tag-christopher-knightsbridge","tag-climate-disasster","tag-depression","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-housing-stability","tag-income-stability","tag-jama-psychiatry","tag-lahaina-wildfire","tag-maui-wes","tag-maui-wildfire-exposure-study","tag-maui-wildfires","tag-mauiwes","tag-mental-health","tag-psychological-distress","tag-rapid-health-survey","tag-ruben-juarez","tag-suicide","tag-uhero","tag-university-of-hawaii-economic-research-organization","tag-wildfire-survivor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}