Trauma is something that everyone goes through at some point in their lives. Throughout the different stages of childhood, everyone experiences at least one form of trauma. There are many forms of trauma and it may be a situation that does not affect someone on a day to day basis, but it is part of your memory and is part of your life. One example of trauma is caused by natural disasters. Natural disasters can significantly impact a child’s life by the horrid things they have to go through, the loss of a family member or a friend, or even losing all of their belongings. A hypothesis I suggest is that trauma from natural disasters alters how children develop. Children who experience a natural disaster, not only have to deal with their personal issues, but they must also deal with their parents and how they react and behave towards them.
One study was done in Norway interviewing fifty-one parents and their children’s behavior. Norway experienced a tsunami in the year 2004, and this study includes all of these parents’ strategies on how to deal with very young children that have dealt with natural disasters. Monitoring is something that can all be based on interpretation on a situation and can show signs of distress. For example, there was a mother or a thirteen-year-old boy and learns to be careful when with her child’s emotions. It can be alarming how our emotional lives can be so fragile. This mother found out that giving their child some space to breathe and learn where to put their own emotions into how they feel and act personally on the outside can connect with how they react towards other people. There was a father of an eleven-year-old boy who wanted to make sure that his son was not experiencing any form of depression after the tsunami and wanted to make sure he was still having a normal, social interaction between people and wanted to give him space to figure things out on his own and come to him and be able to tell his dad how he can be most helpful in this life and towards other people in his life.
Another father of a fifteen-year-old girl wanted to make sure that she was able to handle the situation that was best for her (Haavind, Hanne, Gertrude S. Hafstad, and Tine K. Jensen). Children usually have certain ways that situations can be handled in order to meet their needs, so since parents were able to give more space to their children, they were able to adjust these changes in their lives quicker and makes sure that their situation is held in the best possible way as they go through these hard times. At every age of your childhood, you react differently at each age, and the original reaction towards a natural disaster happening to them depends on the age that they currently are. Children who do not always have the freedom to deal with trauma in their own way or are forgotten about in these types of situations always have more of a significant impact on their lives from the natural disaster and usually takes a longer amount of time for children to learn to cope with these situations (Haavind, Hanne, Gertrude S. Hafstad, and Tine K. Jensen). During these times of distress, it is also found that sometimes the best kind of care in these situations is usual care. Usual care reminds children of a consistent process that has happened all of their life and is able to show consistency in their lives once a natural disaster affects their lives. Natural disasters are stressful events that include tsunamis, hurricanes, fires, flooding, earthquakes, volcano eruptions, and blizzards.
All of these different types of natural disasters can still have an impact on their lives and causes trauma in their lives. Since there are so many types of natural disasters, children need consistency in their lives after one of these occurs in order to regain a sense of normality. Being given space and the ability to learn what a child needs for themselves allows children to learn what they need to ask close adults in their lives about. For example, the fifteen-year-old girl was given space by her father and she regained a sense of normality again after the tsunami in 2004. It did not happen right away, but having that space for her to come to the adults in her life instead of them always pestering her about if she is ok or how is she feeling allowed her to gain some personal growth to overcome this obstacle in her life, learn communication skills between her parents or other close adults, and skills on how to deal with traumas that may occur later on or again in her life. Not only does space give children the place to seek help, but it also allows for more personal reflection and how they want to best handle the situation they are going through due to a natural disaster.
Some of the strategies that gave children the best outcome after a natural disaster include watchful waiting, careful monitoring, and interpretation of signs of distress. All of these different methods of observation of adults and granting children with these different opportunities allow children to think it is ok to ask for help and learn the skill that it is ok to not be ok every minute of our lives (Haavind, Hanne, Gertrude S. Hafstad, and Tine K. Jensen). When dealing with trauma from a natural disaster, PTSD or Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is one of the most common psychological disorders to obtain from experiencing natural disasters. Some of the PTSD characteristics from natural disasters include exposure, emotional, social, and personal problems (Thomley). Since Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is one of the most common side effects that occur from natural disasters, it was found that PTSD was found in 30.4 percent of children affected by the Sri Lanka tsunami. The overall direct exposure to the tsunami was 70.9 percent. 70 percent of the participants in the experiment is a significant amount of children affected directly and out of the 70 percent, there was an average of 30 percent who suffer from PTSD. There is also a correlation between family violence and how the tsunami both caused PTSD on these children.
Not only did these children in Sri Lanka go through a natural disaster, but their country had also just gone through a war, and so it led to an even bigger rate of distress and uncertainty. Whenever parents began to alter their way of parenting, it led to higher rates of PTSD and eventually led to more altered behaviors and issues (Claudia). Another example of a natural disaster situation is the earthquake in Italy in 1980. This affected an elementary school in this area. Just after a few days, this had happened, the children displayed continuing disturbed behaviors and this chaotic situation happening did not allow for all of the children’s needs to be met. Some of these children still had side effects after two years of this earthquake and many suffered from PTSD. During this earthquake disaster, there was a lot of separation between children and their families which just led to more issues and problems for the kids. These children had been exposed to long-lasting trauma in their lives. Despite all of the first, direct issues, children are given less credit than they deserve for being more flexible and understanding after a natural disaster. It was also found that in this study, family networks help out the children and make sure that all of their needs are met and that they are safe and functioning well.
Another thing that was discovered from this research is that the sooner a daily routine is reestablished, children are able to be more helpful and are able to gain more of a steady routine to make sure they are getting back on track. The final thing that was discovered in this research, was that children working through the pain, insecurities, problems, tragedies, and fears are able to be treated faster and able to get through the situation and move on with their lives instead of having these bad situations and keeping their feeling inside and never expressing how they felt after experiencing natural disasters (Foa, Dario and Rosemarie Galante). Within this study, there were many phases that were followed throughout this situation concerning the earthquake. On the first phase, it included a method of using a questionnaire in this study that was filled out six months after the earthquake. This questionnaire included 300 first through fourth-grade children. From this portion of this study, it was found that children who had experienced a death in their family it significantly affected them. This phase also discovered that it did not necessarily matter the amount of damage a community received and that a community could still have many risks of PTSD from family deaths even if, overall, the community did not get lavishly damaged.
During the second phase of this study, there were treatments offered and used for one school year. This treatment included group sessions monthly for the elementary school because of the high necessity for help to treat the risks the children had obtained during this disaster. These sessions would last for one hour at a time and each grade level received the same treatment sessions, and the sessions included notes of every child during each of the sessions. There was a total of seven sessions and each one had a specific objective and goal that was wanted to be completed for each child’s benefit. From each session, there were records of what happened and how it went. Through the course of these sessions, the children’s fears went through many different stages and by the fifth and sixth stages, their fears of earthquakes and some other fears had diminished to very low levels. The peak of their fears occurred in the fourth session but after that stage, the fears steadily lowered. By the seventh session in this second phase of the study, the children no longer mentioned the earthquake and were now just talking to each other about their daily lives.
In the third and final phase of the Italian earthquake study, the method included the same questionnaire from phase one and was distributed to the same people as before, just one year and eight months later. The results showed that there was a drastic change in the result from before the sessions began to the state the children were in after the group sessions. It resulted in significantly lower risks of the children having PTSD and there was no longer a correlation between a family death and behavioral risks (Foa, Dario and Rosemarie Galante). This study’s results showed that having group sessions and being able to talk to other people who went through the same natural disaster significantly impacted how the children were able to cope with the trauma each child experienced. By having access to some form of therapy or way of working through the pain and distress that comes with natural disaster, shows significant and fairly rapid improvement and coping with trauma. Throughout this study, it identified, from the beginning, possible risks of PTSD in the elementary children and how those risks changed and developed throughout the different steps taken to ensure the best outcome and improvement for the children who experienced the earthquake (Foa, Dario and Rosemarie Galante).
Another testing was held on children that had experienced cyclonic disasters. This study was held three months after the cyclonic disaster occurred and consisted of 874 children from the age of eight to twelve. There was a questionnaire that the families had to answer. This questionnaire was called the CTSQ, which studies children that have a risk of having PTSD. In addition to the CTSQ, there were questions that went along with this study to answer questions about the storm including exposure and perceived threat levels from this disaster. The parents participating in this study also had to answer questions about their experiences with parenting since the disaster occurred. Some of these questions included the changes they made in their parenting since the natural disaster and some of their own experiences from the disaster as well. From these studies, it was found that these elementary school children had a high risk for PTSD and that it could lead to risks with PTSD. It was also found that when parents altered their parenting habits and tendencies, or if there was a lack of parent interaction, it correlated with the possibility for the children to show Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. The conclusion of this study was that if there was some type of alteration of parenting, whether it was a lack or increased amount of attention, there are then targets of involvement with the situation (Cobham, V. E, and B. McDermott).
A study done by Carolyn Kousky shows that natural disasters affect children most because children rely on the most things and are easily overwhelmed by difficult situations. Natural disasters harm children mentally and physically in many different ways. Some include physical harm, the death of a family member, mental issues, and financial and living issues. All children who experience natural disasters deal with the situation differently and all go through different ways of handling the situation as well. Since no natural disaster is the same and the situation after the disaster is never the same for every family, there are so many variations, issues, and ways of handling each individual child and how to help them understand and cope with their trauma they have developed. Natural disasters can also cause many health problems in children. For example, there may be less food available and can lead to children not getting the nutrients or calories they constantly need and can then lead to malnutrition. Another example includes when Hurricane Katrina hit the United States in 2005. When the hurricane hit, many people lost their homes and housing and insurance did not help compensate for these losses and led to families no longer having a place to stay.
Also, asthma was another problem at the time and no one could get to a doctor or the right medication for the children and half of the people surveyed no longer had access to a doctor at all. There were also babies during this time that needed intensive care at the hospitals, but the power was down, and there was not enough care and not enough supplies to help support these families. In addition to all of these problems, unhygienic conditions led to the spread of diseases, malnourishment, and dehydration. Due to all of the issues the natural disaster caused, this led to children’s health is highly vulnerable and susceptible to all of these issues and leaves children helpless in these situations, and this ultimately leads to trauma in the children’s’ lives (Kousky). The American Psychological Association suggests that after going through a natural disaster trauma, it is important to communicate with others who may have gone through the same experience and be able to share your experiences, to give yourself time to adjust and avoid stressful life decisions, and always seek out help from family members or professionals to ensure that the best care and methods are available and used for the safest and best recovery possible to make sure that this trauma does not affect your life in ways that stop you from functioning in your everyday life. It is also important to know when to seek out professional help in order to avoid as much anxiety and stress that comes along with PTSD and help get you back on track (Rowell, Kevin, Ph.D., and Rebecca, PsyD Thomley).
In conclusion, natural disasters do affect how children develop. Ways that can alter these developments include, a change in parenting, environment, the death of a family member form the disaster, and the inconsistency of routines. children who experience a natural disaster in their childhood have to deal with fear, tragedies, pain, problems, and so much more, they must overcome barriers that stop them from doing what they do in their everyday lives, and they must challenge themselves by being able to go through something like natural disasters that cause trauma. Creating daily routines again, allowing space for children to express how they feel instead of being hovered over and protected, and sharing their experiences are ways that help establish the beginning of going back to their normal, everyday lives, and teaches children how to deal with problems and challenges they face throughout their lives and is a way to allow connections and bonds between families and communities to grow stronger and more connected due to the sharing of stories and experiences together. Today, natural disasters continue to occur all around us and there were recently some natural disasters in California. The California fires continue to damage and destroy homes and cause children to undergo the experiences of these disasters and it is important to continue to provide help and research in this area of trauma for children who experience this every day.
