It’s been about three months since hurricanes Helene and Milton along with Hurricane Beryl two months earlier. A Texas child psychologist who specializes in helping kids recover from disaster trauma says now is the time to watch for signs of emerging post-traumatic stress disorder, better known as PTSD.
As Texas Public Radio (TPR) bioscience and medicine reporter Bonnie Petrie reports, Julie Kaplow, PhD, ABPP, of the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute in Texas says during the first three months after a disaster, most kids will experience symptoms of trauma. Beyond that, caregivers should begin to watch for signs of longer-term mental health concerns.”
Kaplow explains how PTSD in children can sometimes be misdiagnosed as ADHD. “Avoidance, which we find in PTSD, can look like distractibility. So they may look like their head is in the clouds. They're not paying any attention at all. The reality is, they may be actively trying to avoid thinking about what happened, the bad thing that happened, and that can look like they are distracted.” Hypervigilance against potential threats can also look like hyperactivity.
As Ali Rogin with PBS News Hour reports, researchers from Boston College found up to 70 percent of students could show symptoms of PTSD in the first three months following such disasters. Lori Peak, the director of the Natural Hazard Center at the University of Colorado Boulder, says “their recovery is influenced by multiple factors.” Those factors include the severity of the storm damage to their home, school or community. And to what extent was a child’s life disrupted after such a disaster.
Peek says getting back into a daily routine to create a sense of stability, along with social support from family, peers and the community, can play important roles in recovery.
Peek recalls that after Hurricane Katrina their research, “really revealed that sometimes children, and especially adolescents and teens, they may help hide that distress from the adults in their lives.” She says that’s often because they see how distressed and how disrupted their parents are, and do not want to be an additional burden to them.
For very young children, says Peek, they may regress with potential symptoms ranging from bedwetting to acting out, becoming more clingy, or turning inwards.
