STORY BY
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/katrina/
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.
UPDATED: 10-11-2005
Editorial Board | Legal Disclaimer | Privacy & Security | Contact Us
©2000-2006 Office of Institutional Advancement, UT-Houston
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.
See Dr. Harper also at:
Summer Carbon Monoxide Dangers
Generators used to cool off homes in hot summer months can cause death through carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning.
CO is an odorless, colorless gas that can kill or seriously and permanently injure people who inadvertently breathe in the noxious fumes emitted from generators in an enclosed space.
During hurricane season, emergency rooms see a rise in cases of CO poisoning from people bringing generators into their homes to provide power, often for cooling fans as well as cooking.
“During Hurricane Rita, we had a family of five die here in Houston for CO poisoning,” reminds UT Medical School Hyperbaric Medicine expert, Dr.Caroline Fife. “The Center for Disease Control and Prevention tracked deaths from CO poisoning due to combustion engines after Katrina and Rita and there was a dramatic increase.”
“Teak surfing”—holding on to the back of a power boat’s swim platform and being towed—is another danger. The boat’s exhaust pipe is in the face of the swimmer.
People riding in the back of pick-up trucks are at risk, too. Numerous cases have been cited of children poisoned by riding beneath tarpaulins or enclosed “cabs” in the back of the truck. In these cases, the trucks had a leak in the exhaust system or a rear-exiting tail pipe, not a side exit.
Fife also has seen this in boats with malfunctioning exhaust systems. She urges doctors and bystanders to pay special attention when groups of people begin to feel ill at the same time, particularly severe headache and nausea. Children often become symptomatic before adults.
“People associate CO poisoning with cold weather and northern states, but in the South, we see it a lot in summer with people just trying to stay cool,” Fife says.
