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Perilous and painful evacuations. No food. Water. Gas. The threat of utter devastation. Children—both those displaced by Katrina and Rita and those who were simply flooded by terrifying TV images— might be re-clutching their one-eyed stuffed bunnies they had long since shelved.
During Rita, young evacuees from Hurricane Katrina taking shelter in Houston had it doubly hard, because they had to evacuate again. And the hurricane season is far from over.
“Most kids will be fine,” says Dr. Andrew Harper, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston. “But it is important for people to realize that not all will [be fine], and to be on the lookout for those kids and treat them early.”
Harper says most children affected by disasters will experience some stress and will recover without any further problem.
Others may have more difficulty coping with the tragedy, and need some counseling and support. A small percentage of children may develop a full-blown post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a severe psychiatric condition most often associated with military combat veterans. The disorder also occurs in adults and children who experience or witness life-threatening events.
Getting kids involved in the relief effort
gives them more of sense of control
over their environment.
“Kids can help gather toys or supplies
for children who were evacuated, or
draw pictures or send them notes,”
Harper says. “It gives them a feeling
that they can do something.”
Creating a family plan for emergencies
gives children a comforting recipe to
follow. Like any plan, however, whether
it is for house fires, strangers at the
door,
etc., you need to run the
occasional rehearsal so that everyone
feels secure. For example, during
hurricane season, remind family
members where emergency supplies
are located and what they are used for.
Keep your weather checklist handy and
add a few “duties” for the children. This
also will give them a sense of control.
For more information on mental health
services in the Houston area, visit the
City of Houston’s website at
http://www.houstontx.gov/
Symptoms that a child has developed a psychiatric disorder may not show up for several weeks after a traumatic experience, when the chaos of day-to-day survival has died down.
“Kids may report frequent upsetting dreams,” Harper says. “They may repeat the incident in their play over and over again. They may also be more clingy and regress or act younger than their age.”
Families and teachers should also watch children for increased irritability or temper, and problems at school, Harper says.
Symptoms are more severe in children with post traumatic stress disorder. Children with PTSD may avoid activities that remind them of the trauma, have nightmares and flashbacks, and have difficulty sleeping. Often children with PTSD just can’t seem to let the trauma go.
“They may be extremely distressed and feel like they need to monitor their environment, so that something bad doesn’t happen,” Harper says. “They may also show increased arousal and be extra vigilant about their surroundings.”
As much as they would like to, parents or caretakers can’t erase a traumatic event from their child’s memory. They can help their child get through this tough time simply by being a good parent – only more so. That means giving more hugs, more kisses and spending more time talking and listening to their child.
“Let them be clingy and try to create an environment where they can talk about what worries them,” Harper says. “Give your child information in response to their fears, keeping your tone realistic but hopeful. You might explain to them that, ‘Yes a very bad thing happened, but Mom and Dad are working to get the family back together.’”
To create a feeling of normalcy, parents and caregivers should ease children back into a routine as soon as possible, including normal meal times, bed times, and school. It is also important to encourage children to play. Having fun is an essential part of being a child, Harper says.
Professional help may be needed to support children who continue to have problems coping. Counselors can help children work through their emotions through talking, drawing or play. Medication may be prescribed to treat children with more serious psychiatric disorders, like PTSD.
What we adults must remember is that children watch us to determine how they should react to a situation. So we adults should try to “stay cool,” as much as possible Harper says. If we can’t, we should lean on other adults for support, or seek professional help ourselves.
Watching images of hurricane devastation and the evacuation over and over again on television keeps the trauma fresh in the minds of children who have experienced it. What we learned during 9-11 was that unrelenting television coverage of disasters can also hurt children who weren’t in harm's way.
“Kids can be traumatized by repeated TV watching or hearing the horrible stories,” Harper says. Because children view the world through their personal experiences, many may think, “If it could happen there, it could happen here,” he continues.
Also, very young children may not realize that repeat footage is actually the same event being replayed. They may believe that a new hurricane is happening every day.
“The worst are stories of children who have been separated from their parents. One child ends up on one bus and their parent is on another bus. For very young kids that is their biggest fear, that they could be separated from their parents,” Harper says.
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Dr. Andrew Harper is associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the UT Medical School and medical director of UT Harris County Psychiatric Center.
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Eating healthy
reverses metabolic syndrome
Dr. Tasnime Akbaraly of University College London and her colleagues were interested if healthy eating could actually turn-the-tide and reverse metabolic syndrome, which is having 3 or more of the following risk factors: excess abdominal fat; high triglycerides, hypertension, low levels of HDL the “good” cholesterol, or type 2 diabetes. Having metabolic syndrome doubles a persons’ risk of heart disease and greatly increases the odds of developing type 2 diabetes.
The researchers studied 339 British civil servants with metabolic syndrome, and how closely the adhered to the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) to see if it could help reverse metabolic syndrome. The AHEI is a set of published nutritional guidelines by the Harvard School of Public Health in 2002 that emphasizes whole grains, fruits, vegetables and decreased red meat consumption.
Five years into the study, nearly 50% no longer had metabolic syndrome. People who followed the AHEI guidelines the closest were nearly twice as likely to have reversed their metabolic syndrome. The results of the study were published in Diabetes Care, online July 29, 2010.
Dr. Alice Lichtenstein, an expert on diet and heart health from Tufts University in Boston who was not involved in the study said, "It's not about focusing on individual components of the diet, it's really the whole package, and that becomes important because it means that if one of the components of a healthy diet is to eat more fruits and vegetables, just buying a pill saying that there's a concentrated extract of fruits and vegetables is probably not what's going to help you."
Call and make an appointment with Wellness Coach Sam Hester, CWC, CPT, LWMC, at 713-500-3327. It's confidential and free. For more information on the wellness services provided, visit UT Counseling and WorkLife Services.
