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Learning From The Past and Planning For The Future
MENTAL HEALTH MOMENT May 14, 2004 "Wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way,
in that enchanted place on the top of the forest,
a little boy and his Bear will always be playing."- A. A. Milne, closing lines of Winnie-the-Pooh
Short Subjects
LINKS Rocky Mountain Region
Disaster Mental Health Institute
CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS:
27th National AACBT Conference
(Australian Association for
Cognitive and Behavior Therapy)
May 15 - 19, 2004
Location: Perth, Western Australia
AUSTRALIA
3rd Annual Hawaii
International Conference on Social Sciences
June 16 - 19, 2004
Location: Honolulu Hawaii, USA
Contact: social@hicsocial.orgSociety for the Psychological Study of
Social Issues (SPSSI) Convention
June 25 - 27, 2004
Location: Washington, DC, USA
17th Congress of the International Association
of Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP)
August 2 - 6, 2004
Location: Xi'an, CHINA
Contact: Zheng Gang
Institute of Psychology
Chinese Academy of Sciences
100101 Beijing, China
Email: iaccp2004@psych.ac.cnSixth International Conference of
the Learning Sciences (ICLS 2004):
"Embracing Diversity in the Learning Sciences"
June 22 - 26, 2004
Location: Santa Monica, California, USA
International Society of Political Psychology
27th Annual Scientific Meeting
July, 15-18, 2004
Location: Lund, Sweden
62nd Annual Conference of the
International Council of Psychologists
August 3 - 6, 2004
Location: University of Jinan
Jinan, CHINA
Contact: Dr. Natividad Dayan
Scientific Chair
99 General Ave
GSIS Village, Project 8
Quezon City, Metro Manila
01108 PHILIPPINES Telephone: 632-724-5358
Email: bereps@pacific.net.phXXVIII International Congress of Psychology
August 8 - 13, 2004
Location: Beijing, CHINA
Contact: XiaoLan FU, Deputy Director
Committee for International Cooperation
Chinese Psychological Society
Institute of Psychology
Chinese Academy of Sciences
P.O. Box 1603
Beijing 100101, China
Telephome: +86-10-6202-2071
Fax: +86-10-6202-2070
22nd Nordic Congress of Psychology:
"Psychology in a World of Change and Diversity -
Challenges for our Profession"
August 18 -20, 2004
Location: Copenhagen, DENMARK
Contact: Roal Ulrichsen, Chair
NPK2004 Organizing Committee
Danish Psychological Association
Stokholmsgade 27, DK-2100
Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
Email: bh@vanhauen.dk
Severe Weather Racking Nation's Midsection
Severe weather, ranging from tornadoes to hail to flooding, is cutting a wide swath across the United States. A large front that brought unseasonably cold temperatures to the Rockies and northern plains is now producing thunderstorms in the Midwest. Texas and Louisiana have also been hard hit by storms and flooding. Check the following links for information on Thunderstorms Floods Tornadoes
UN agency helps launch campaign to clean up world's seas
With 80 per cent of ocean pollution coming from land-based activities and half the coasts - home to 1 billion people - already threatened by development activity, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) today took part in the launch of a new campaign to clean up the seas by ensuring that people have access to toilets and safe drinking water. For Full Story, Go To: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=10741&Cr=water&Cr1=sanitation
Arab journalists urged to give full picture of UN's work in region
With Western Asia and the Middle East grappling with "profound unease" and "disappointed aspirations," the top United Nations communications official today called on the region's media experts and journalists to help refine a strategy aimed at bringing the Arab world and the UN closer together. "I, for one, am convinced that if people in the region are better able to understand what we are and what we do, they will support our efforts," the Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Shashi Tharoor, told experts gathered in Beirut for the Strategic Communications Meeting for the Middle East and the Arab Region. For Full Story, Go To: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=10727&Cr=middle&Cr1=east
UN-backed treaty banning most dangerous pollutants comes into force Monday
UN-backed treaty banning most dangerous pollutants comes into force Monday An international treaty banning the world's most dangerous pesticides, industrial chemicals and hazardous by-products of combustion enters into force on Monday, marking the start of an ambitious United Nations-backed effort to rid the planet of some of the worst pollutants tied to cancer, birth defects and immune system damage. "The Stockholm Convention will save lives and protect the natural environment - particularly in the poorest communities and countries - by banning the production and use of some of the most toxic chemicals known to humankind," Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), under whose auspices the treaty was adopted, said in a statement. For Full Story, Go To: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=10733&Cr=hazardous&Cr1=chemicals
Kenya to join African countries switching to unleaded gas - UN agency
Over half of all petrol sold in sub-Saharan Africa is now unleaded and a "lead-free" continent is now in sight, with Kenya set to announce that it will switch to fully unleaded petrol by 2006, the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) said. Although much of Africa has lagged behind Western Europe and North America in phasing out leaded gasoline - mainly for technological reasons and a lack of awareness of the health risks - Kenya's decision to go fully unleaded is putting the continent on track to be lead-free by 2005. For Full Story, Go To: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=10669&Cr=kenya&Cr1=
Iraq: UNICEF ‘profoundly disturbed’ by allegations of abuse of detained children
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is profoundly disturbed by news reports alleging that children might have been among those abused in detention centres and prisons in Iraq, a spokesman said. “Although the news reports have not been independently substantiated, they are alarming nonetheless,” UNICEF spokesman Damien Personnaz told a news briefing in Geneva, adding that any mistreatment, sexual abuse, exploitation or torture of children in detention is a violation of international law. For Full Story, Go To: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=10693&Cr=iraq&Cr1=
An expanded European Union affords opportunity to boost children’s rights – UN
The world has become a scary place for children” with millions of them falling prey to trafficking, exploitation and abuse, and the expansion of the European Union (EU) offers an opportunity to enhance their rights, the head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said. "In Europe and Central Asia, millions of children are falling through the cracks to be trafficked and traded, exploited and abused, excluded and alienated in ways that affront the intelligence, shame the conscience and break the heart," UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy told government ministers from across Europe and Central Asia. For Full Story, Go To: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=10723&Cr=Children&Cr1=
Indigenous education boosts women’s health and education prospects – UN
A supportive policy environment as well as political commitment is needed to ensure quality indigenous education both as a right in itself and as a means to improve the economic and health prospects of women, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues has been told. Several recent studies show that one extra year beyond primary school boosts economic possibilities for women by 10 per cent, leads to greater literacy and lower fertility, reduces child mortality and fosters democratic citizenship, Linda King, Interim Chief of the Section on Education for Peace and Human Rights in the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), told the Forum. For Full Story, Go To: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=10710&Cr=indigenous&Cr1=people
Some Depressing News
A few weeks ago, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a "surprise" warning that patients who have just begun taking antidepressant medications can become suicidal and need to be closely monitored by their physicians. Sadly, many of the front-page news reports heralding the dangers of these drugs were perfect examples of faulty medical reporting.
To be sure, depression is a deadly serious problem and the powerful medications we use to treat it need to be handled with great care. Far worse than making a person merely feel "blue," clinical depression interferes with just about every aspect of a victim's life. Profound sleep and eating disturbances, strikingly low levels of energy even to perform the basic functions of life, crying episodes that appear out of nowhere, and a host of other debilitating symptoms are the very real manifestations of a disease that strikes at least 2 out of every 10 Americans. To make things even more serious, about 10% of those with untreated or undertreated depression wind up committing suicide, making depression one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Consequently, it is understandable that a government warning that the major means of treating this condition may be worsening the situation is major news. For the Article, Go To: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/474577?src=mp
The Psychological Impacts of Bioterrorism
Since September 11, 2001, federal, state, and local government agencies' emergency response planning has focused on possible terrorist attacks using chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or high-yield explosive (CBRNE) weapons. For the Article, Go To: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/458656
Terrorism and Weapons of Mass Destruction: Managing the Behavioral Reaction in Primary Care
Possible group reactions to an attack with weapons of mass destruction include mass panic, acute outbreaks of medically unexplained symptoms, and chronic cases of medically unexplained physical symptoms, while individual reactions may include PTSD. For the Article, Go To: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/452845
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Symptom Profiles in Men and Women
Men with PTSD are significantly more likely than women with PTSD to suffer with symptoms of irritability and to use alcohol to excess. The diagnosis of PTSD tends to follow an acute stress reaction or disorder. Symptoms of PTSD have an early onset (although this is not exclusively so) and tend to persist for many months. The case has been made for restricting the diagnosis to the most frequent symptoms and for including some often overlooked symptoms in the diagnostic guidelines, namely low mood, mood lability and reduced sex drive. For the Article, Go To: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/456192
THE MEDICAL MINUTE: TIME TO THINK ABOUT TICKS AGAIN
Ticks have returned with the warmer weather, bringing with them the risk of tick-borne illnesses. Most people know that ticks can cause Lyme disease, but the little bugs also can transmit other diseases such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tularemia, ehrlichosis, babesiosis and Colorado tick fever. According to the latest edition of the Medical Minute, a service of Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Lyme disease can cause a variety of short-term and long-term health problems, and because the symptoms mimic the flu, infected individuals sometimes don't recognize when they're infected with Lyme disease. As summer approaches, it's time to think about ways to avoid tick bites and all the major health problems these tiny critters can cause. Read the full story at http://live.psu.edu/index.php?sec=vs&story=6874
PROVIDING HELP FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES FOLLOWING DISASTERS
General Steps In The Helping Process
A basic principle in working with problems of children in disasters is that they are essentially normal children who have experienced great stress. Most of the problems which appear are likely, therefore, to be directly related to the disaster and transitory in nature.
The process recommended for helping children and families often starts with "crisis intervention", which can be provided by trained and supervised paraprofessionals and volunteers. The primary goal in crisis intervention is to identify, respond to, and relieve the stresses developed as a result of the crisis (disaster) and then to re-establish normal functioning as quickly as possible. Sometimes the reaction is mild. Other times it is severe. Also, the workers must be trained to recognize when the condition is mild and can be handled by the families (with guidance) and when it is severe and needs professional help.
The general steps in the helping process include:
1. Establishing Rapporta. Letting the children know you are interested in them and want to help them.b. Checking with the children to make sure that they understand what you are saying and that you understand them.
c. Having genuine respect and regard for the children and their families.
d. Communicating trust and promising only what you can do.
e. Communicating acceptance of the children and their families.
f. Communicating to the children and their families that you are an informed authority.
2. Identifying, Defining And Focusing On The Problem
Like adults, children going through a crisis may seem confused and chaotic in their thinking. It is helpful to the children and families to identify a specific problem and to define it and focus on it first. If possible, the problem should be quickly resolved so that the children and families quickly experience a sense of success and control. Evaluating the seriousness of the problem should determine the families' capacity for dealing with it.
3. Understanding Feelings
Empathy is the ability to see and feel as others do. Being empathetic with children requires patience, for children frequently are unable to express their fears and the adults need to appreciate the kind and intensity of the children's feelings. For example, adults may be required to listen to a child's account of a disaster many times while the child "works through" the disaster by talking it out.
4. Listening Carefully
Frequently, the children's experiences of adults listening to them are unsatisfactory. In working with children, effort should be made to respond to them and to comment frequently. Interrupting the children should be avoided for it tends to happen often and the children may be particularly sensitive to being interrupted by adults.
5. Communicating Clearly
It is important to communicate in language the children understand. The presence of the family is useful in interviews with the children for the families will be more familiar with them and their behavior. In addition, families will be able to learn how to communicate with the children better after observing the interviewer. Simple language should be used in speaking with the children so that they are not excluded from the helping process.
ROLE OF THE FAMILY
A basic principle in working with a child with an emotional problem is that it is a family problem, not just the child's problem, that is presented. The family should be considered the unit to be counseled. Every member should be involved with the process. In addition, one should take advantage of the assistance provided by the concern, interest, and availability of various members of the family. Sometimes adult memebers of the family may be experiencing emotional distress but hesitate to seek help. The family is frequently more able to seek help on the children's behalf than on that of its adult members. The family may, in fact, use the children's problems as a way of also asking for help for others in the family. This request should be respected not confronted. By having the family involved, others in the family can also be helped. Denial that problems exist may still occur, however, in some cultural and disadvantaged areas.
When the family's equilibrium is upset by stress, it may be pushed off balance temporarily, and the family shows signs of not being able to fulfill its usual functions. Time and informed interventions help in re-establishing the family and its developmental role.
COMMON FEELINGS AND BEHAVIORS
Below are described some of the more common reactions of children in disasters and suggested possible responses:
1. Fears And AnxietiesFear is a normal reaction to disaster, frequently expressed through continuing anxieties about recurrence of the disaster, injury, death, separation and loss. Because children's fears and anxieties after a disaster often seem strange and unconnected to anything specific in their lives, their relationship to the disaster may be difficult to determine. In dealing with children's fears and anxieties, it is generally best to accept them as being very real to the children. For example, children's fears of returning to the room or school they were in when the disaster struck should be accepted at face value. Treatment efforts should begin with talking about those experiences and reactions.
Before the family can help, however, the children's needs must be understood. This requires an understanding of the family's needs. Families have their own shared beliefs, values, fears and anxieties. Frequently, the children's malfunctioning is a mirror of something wrong in the family. Dissuading them of their fears will not prove effective if their families have the same fears and continue to reinforce them. A family interview should be conducted in which the interviewer can observe the relationship of the children and their families, conceptualize the dynamics of the child-family interactions, and involve the family in a self-help system.
The parents' or adults' reactions to the children make a great difference in their recovery. The intensity and duration of the children's symptoms decrease more rapidly when the families are able to indicate that they understand their feelings. When the children feel that their parents do not understand their fears, they feel ashamed, rejected, and unloved. Tolerance of temporary regressive behavior allows the children to re-develop anew those coping patterns which had been functioning before. Praise offered for positive behavior produces positive change. Routine rules need to be relaxed to allow time for regressive behaviors to run their course and the re-integration process to take place.
When the children show excessive clinging and unwillingness to let their parents out of their sight, they are actually expressing and handling their fears and anxieties of separation or loss most appropriately. They have detected the harmful effects of being separated from their parents and, in their clinging, are trying to prevent a possible recurrence. Generally, the children's fears dissolve when the threat of danger has dissipated and they feel secure once more under the parents' protection.
Children are most fearful when they do not understand what is happening around them. Every effort should be made to keep them accurately informed, thereby alleviating their anxieties. Adults, frequently failing to realize the capacity of children to absorb factual information, do not share what they know, and children receive only partial or erroneous information. Children are developing storehouses of all kinds of information and respond to scientific facts and figures, new language, technical terms, and predictions. Following the 1971 earthquake, the children in Los Angeles were observed to become instant experts. The language used by them in a daycare setting was enriched by technical terms, such as Richter Scale, aftershock, temblor, etc. The children learned these new words from the media and incorporated them readily, using them in play and in talking with each other.
The family should make an effort to remain together as much as possible, for a disaster is a time when the children need their significant adults around them. In addition, the model the adults present at this time can be growth enhancing. For example, when the parents act with strength and calmness, maintaining control at the same time they share feelings of being afraid, they serve the purpose of letting the children see that it is possible to act courageously even in times of stress and fear.
2. Sleep Disturbances
Sleep disturbances are among the most common problems for children following a disaster. Their behavior is likely to take the form of resistance to bedtime, wakefulness, unwillingness to sleep in their own rooms or beds, refusal to sleep by themselves, desire to be in a parent's bed or to sleep with a light, insistence that the parent stay in the room until they fall asleep, and excessively early rising. Such behaviors are disruptive to a child's well-being. They also increase stress for the parents, who may themselves be experiencing some adult counterpart of their child's disturbed sleep behavior. More persistent bedtime problems, such as night terrors, nightmares, continued awakening at night, and refusal to fall asleep may point to deep-seated fears and anxieties which may require professional intervention.
It is helpful to explore the family's sleep arrangements. The family may need to develop a familiar bedtime routine, such as reinstating a specific time for going to bed. They may find it helpful to plan calming, pre-bedtime activities to reduce chaos in the evening. Teenagers may need to have special consideration for bedtime privacy. Developing a quiet recreation in which the total family participates is also helpful.
Other bedtime problems of the children, such as refusing to go to their rooms or to sleep by themselves, frequent awakening at night, or nightmares can be met by greater understanding and flexibility on the part of the parents. The child may be allowed to sleep in the parents' bedroom on a mattress or in a crib, or may be moved into another child's room. A time limit on how long the change will continue should be agreed upon by both parents and child, and it should be adhered to firmly. Some children are satisfied if the parents spend a little extra time in the bedroom with them. If they come out of bad at night, they should be returned to it gently, with the reassurance of a nearby adult presence. Having a night light or leaving the door ajar are both helpful. Getting angry, punishing, spanking, or shouting at the child rarely helps and more frequently makes the situation worse. Sometimes, it becomes clear that it is actually the parent who is fearful of leaving the child alone.
Parents from middle-class families have been educated to believe that allowing their child to sleep in the parents' room has long-lasting deleterious effects on the child. Families accustomed to overcrowded and shared sleeping space have less trouble in allowing children to be close to them. Closeness between parents and children at bedtime reduces the children's and adults' fears.
Providing families with information on how to handle bedtime fears can best be done in the family setting or with groups of families meeting together. The families feel reassured upon learning that what they are experiencing is a normal, natural response, and that time and comfort are great healers. Learning that the sleep disturbance behavior is a problem shared with other families is reassuring.
3. School Avoidance And School Phobias
It is important for children and teenagers to attend school since, for the most part, the school is the center of life with peers. The school becomes the major source of activity, guidance, direction, and structure for the child. When a child avoids school, it may generally be assumed that a serious problem exists. One of the reasons for not going to school may be fear of leaving the family and being separated from loved ones. The fear may actually ba a reflection of the family's insecurity about the child's absence from the home. Some high achieving children may be afraid of failing and, once they have missed some time at school, may have concern about returning. The low performers may find that the chaos of disaster makes it even more difficult for them to concentrate. School authorities should be flexible in the ways they encourage children to attend school.
Programs designed for schools vary. Some projects involve teachers and school counselors, while others provide trained workers who have direct contact with the children and the teachers. In some instances, management within the school setting is advantageous. Troubled children can be identified by their behavior in both the classroom and on the playground. Some of the signs are fighting and crying in school for no apparent reason,increased motor activity, withdrawal, inattentiveness, marked drop in school performance, school phobia, rapid mood changes, incessant talking about the disaster, and marked sensitivity to weather changes. Puppetry and psychodrama conducted by a counselor or teacher in the classroom or in special groups are helpful in re-enacting the disaster. They may be followed by discussions and reports by the children of their own experiences in the event. Field trips to disaster sites may be arranged, and group meetings with students and parents may be held. Coloring books, word puzzles, connect-the-dot pictures, and arithmetic problems about the disaster build self-confidence. Class projects may be developed in which all the information about the disaster or a previous similar one is collected and made into a book with color drawings. Craft models or replications (such as dams, earthquake geology, volcanos, rivers, etc.) may be built. Puppets may be made and used to re-enact the disaster.
Children can be encouraged to construct their own games as a way of mastering the feelings associated with the disaster. For example, children play tornado games in which they set up the rules by themselves. In one game, each child is designated as an object, such as a tree, house, car, etc., and one child is the tornado making a noise like a siren and running. The other children begin to run and knock each other over. The "tornado" leaves, and all the children get up and return to their normal activities. Another example has children building a dam in a gutter or ditch and filling it with water. One child then breaks the dam and allows the water to escape harmlessly down the street or into the ditch.
School rap groups are also particularly helpful. Administrative information meetings, teachers' in-service meetings, and parent-teacher meetings can be used for public education. Newsletters and the school newspaper are useful in distributing information among the students. Chat rooms and web-sites on the internet can also be helpful.
1. Loss, Death and MourningIt is not unusual for a disaster, particularly a major disaster in which there has been loss of life, to trigger children's questions about death and dying. The fear of the loss of mother or father underlies many of the questions and symptoms a child may develop, such as sleeplessness, night terrors, clinging behavior and others. Often, when loss has occurred, the children's problems are overlooked. No one assists them in handling their reactions to the loss. When a mother or father dies, most children are fearful of what will happen to them if the remaining parent dies as well. Being told that adults will look after them is very reassuring. The children should be encouraged to voice their questions. The adults should be as honest as they can be with their answers. For example, questions about what happens to a person after death can be answered with the statement that the wisest men and women through the ages have tried to answer this question. However, there is no sure answer. Explanations dealing with heaven and hell, or afterlife, or the flat statement that after death there is nothing are confusing to a child.
It is not uncommon for children to make believe that the deceased parent is still alive. They may call the remaining parent or family a liar and deny their parent's death. Some children may go back and forth between believing and not believing that the parent has died and may ask such questions as "When is Daddy coming home from being dead?" or "I know Mommy's dead, but when is she going to make my supper?" Young children may not realize that there is no return from death - not even for a moment.
Although many of the same issues that adults struggle with in coming to terms with death are also found in children's struggles. Magical thinking is more prevalent in childhood. Most children, when they are very young, believe that wishing for, or thinking about, something can make it happen. Children who have had angry thoughts or death wishes toward the parent (as most children have at one time or another) need to be reassured that these thoughts did not cause something to happen. Children may believe that fighting with a sibling can cause a parent's death and that ceasing to fight will prevent the other parent from dying. They need reassurance that the parent's or family member's death was not their fault, that it was caused by an accident or illness. It is comforting to be told that there are some things they cannot control, such as parents getting sick or having an accident or dying. These can be contrasted with things they can control, such as the games they play, whether or not they play fairly, whether or not they do their chores and homework.
Both the child and family may suffer loss of pets, property, valuables, and treasured sentimental objects. Such losses may have as much impact on them as the loss of a loved one. A mourning process can be anticipated. When family treasures or sentimental objects are still available, they can be helpful to the mourners. They often provide something tangible as a security object. Families in disaster frequently turn to the ruins to retrieve what seem like valueless objects. This is understandable because mourning pertains to the loss of home and objects as well as to loss of loved ones.
Workers need to know that mourning has a purpose and that crying by both a child and an adult is helpful. A child needs to be aware that thoughts about the dead person are likely to come to mind over and over. Forgetting takes time and overt mourning helps the integrate the loss more quickly. The family that expresses concern and annoyance at a child who asks the same questions about death over and over again needs to understand that this is the child's way of adapting to the loss.
2. Suicidal Ideation
Threats or attempts to injure or kill oneself in latency- age children and younger are rare. However, they are not uncommon among adolescents. Any indication of suicidal feelings must be taken seriously. The most frequent motivation is loss of close family, a sweetheart, and of significant objects such as pets, instruments, or a car. Even loss of the opportunity to participate in team sports for the year may bring on serious depression.
Feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, and worthlessness are strong indicators of suicide potential, expressed verbally or nonverbally through behavioral signs - withdrawal, asocial behavior, loss of interest, apathy, and agitation; physical symptoms - sleep and appetite disturbance; and cognitive process changes - loss of alternatives, poor judgment, and reasoning ability. Evidence of caring and concern are the most immediate, effective elements of help which can be provided by all workers. Generally, however, any person with suicidal ideation should be referred to professional help.
3. Confusion
A trouble sign that requires immediate attention, confusion implies a deep-seated disturbance which also probably requires referral to a mental health professional. Confusion generally refers to a disorientation in which the young person has lost the ability to sort out incoming stimuli, whether sensory or cognitive. As a result he/she is overwhelmed by a profusion of feelings and thoughts. Associations with familiar objects may be distorted or disappear, regressive behavior may reappear, and feelings displayed may be inappropriate for the occasion. In extreme cases, immobilization or uncontrolled movement may occur. The mental health professional can begin the process of helping to reorient the children by talking to them calmly, by providing them with specific information, and by being caring and understanding.
4. Antisocial Behavior
Behavior problems - group delinquency, vandalism, stealing, and aggressiveness - have been reported in some communities following a disaster. These behaviors may be a reaction of an adolescent with low self-esteem to community disruption. A major problem for the adolescents is the boredom and isolation from peers which comes from disruption of their usual activities in school and on the playground. One way to counteract this is to involve adolescents and their peers, under adult direction, in clean-up activities which may be therapeutic to the teenagers and beneficial to the community. The adolescents also serve as an excellent resource for helping elderly people and babysitting for families.
It should be remembered, however, that young people of this age have difficulty expressing their fears and anxieties, lest they seem less competent to their peers and themselves. The use of peer rap groups, in which teens can talk about their disaster experiences and ventilate feelings, is helpful in relieving buried anxieties. A "natural" setting for these rap groups, such as school, work or task sites, or wherever teenagers congregate, is desirable. Training teenagers to lead their own rap groups should be considered. Boy Scout and Girl Scout leaders and teachers are natural leaders/ trainers.
CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS
Two groups of children with special needs are briefly discussed below: those with prior developmental or physical problems; and those who have been injured or become ill as a result of the disaster. Both require more intensive attention in a disaster than normal or less seriously affected children.
1. The Exceptional ChildrenExceptional children are defined as those who have developmental disabilities or physical limitations, such as blindness, hearing impairment, orthopedic handicaps, mental retardation, cerebral palsy, etc. Exceptional children have special needs that require consideration when a disaster occurs. Disasters and their periods of disruption bring additional burdens upon the parents of exceptional children. These parents have problems just in coping with their children's needs on a day-to-day basis. The emotional needs of exceptional children are very likely to be exacerbated by a disaster of any magnitude.
Most exceptional children live in their own homes and receive assistance from community agencies. The agencies, part of the network of human services in the community, may need to be alerted to the special needs of the children in home settings. Exceptional children find it more difficult to function when their usual home environment is damaged or if they are moved to strange surroundings. Helping such children to understand what has occurred requires heightened sensitivity. Generally, it would be desirable to have professionals who normally are in contact with the children assist in providing help. The professionals are able to locate and identify the children in the community and determine what special services they need, such as schooling or medical care.
Exceptional children depend to a greater extent than other children on the consistency and predictabiltiy of their environment and the people around them. Familiarity with their surroundings is particularly important to mentally retarded children, who tend to become confused and agitated by traumatic events. One reaction is increased levels of clinging behavior. Parents of these children may need the short-term support of the crisis worker. For example, parents would be helped by learning that their children have greater need for reassurance so that they can anticipate and be tolerant of the increased demands. The parents would also benefit from a crisis group with other parents of exceptional childre. Special education teachers can be a source of assistance for the children. In as much as they are persons familiar to the families and children, they can be very effective in assisting both.
Planning in advance for the needs of children in residential settings, such as treatment centers for mentally ill, mentally retarded, or physically handicapped children, and for day programs for children, such as childcare centers and schools, should have high priority. These agencies should all have their own plans that include staff deployment, evacuation to alternate settings, and ways to contact and inform families of the well-being and location of their children.
2. The Injured or Ill Children
Like any children who undergo medical procedures, children who have been physically injured in a disaster or who have become ill and have been brought to the hospital or the doctor's office will be less traumatized by the injury if the medical procedures that are about to occur are explained to them. In most up-to-date hospitals this is part of the hospital routine. Consultants can inquire about the local hospital and professional associations and involve them in crisis planning. Every effort should be made to have a member of the immediate family remain with the child during hospital stays and to be present when the child receives medical care. This is reassuring to the family and to the child.
Conclusion
A basic principle in working with children who have experienced disaster is that they are essentially normal children who have experienced great stress. Most of the problems that appear are related to the disaster and are usually transitory in nature.
The process suggested for assisting families and children most often begins with "crisis intervention". The primary goal in crisis intervention is to identify, respond to, and relieve the stresses that result from the crisis (disaster) and to re-establish normal functioning as quickly as possible. Sometimes this reaction is mild. However, at other times it can be severe. It is important that workers recognize when the condition is mild and can usually be handled by families with a little guidance. It is also important to recognize when referral to a professional is important, such as a school counselor or when the condition is severe and requires intervention by a mental health professional.
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health topics, leaders, leadership, orgainizations,
crisis intervention, leaders and crises, and related
topics and purchase them online, go to the following url:
https://www.angelfire.com/biz/odochartaigh/searchbooks.html
RECOMMENDED READING
Children and Disasters (Issues in Clinical Child Psychology)
by Conway F. Saylor (Editor)
Editorial Review
From Book News, Inc.Devoted to the prevention and treatment of children's mental health problems following disasters of various kinds, considering basic theory and assessment and intervention techniques. Begins a series that will provide mental health professionals with information on traditional and emerging issues relating to the psychological, behavioral, and developmental problems of children. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
Book Info
The Citadel, Charleston, South Carolina. Issues in Clinical Child Psychology Series. Text for psychologists and other mental health professionals on the effects of natural and man-made disasters on children. Topics include coping, posttraumatic stress disorder, and school-based intervention. 19 contributors, 17 U.S.
Additional Readings at:
Also try looking here for September 11, 2001: A Simple Account for Children.
Videos on Terrorism
Other videos about terrorism
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Contact your local Mental Health Center or
check the yellow pages for counselors, psychologists,
therapists, and other Mental health Professionals in
your area for further information.
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Copyrighted and published by the Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Institute. No part of this document may be reproduced without written consent.The Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Newsletter is published online weekly by:
Rocky Mountain Region
Disaster Mental Health Institute, Inc.
Box 786
Laramie, WY 82073-0786
Newsletter Online: https://www.angelfire.com/biz3/news
Institute Home Page: https://www.angelfire.com/biz/odoc/rocky.html
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