Ways Parents Can Help Children Handle Disaster and Violence

When some kind of violence or disaster hits, a child will suffer from the trauma. This will be evidenced in both a physical way and in emotional issues. There are assistance programs in both Federal agencies and from the NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health).

The important help comes from the family and the parents of the traumatized child. Not only does this group of people assist the child in dealing with the trauma, but they will provide protection against any further trauma. The group of family support will be the ones who get the child to counseling and professional medical care. The family support group is there for the child to help with any ill effects that result from the disaster or violence they have suffered.

Hurricane disaster results in unbelievable damage to every part of a person's home life. Whole communities are destroyed and damaged and many individuals end up homeless. Unfortunately, many die.

Besides disasters, violence is a huge creator of trauma. We all remember the 911 assaults that destroyed major buildings and killed so many innocent victims. Columbine High School in Colorado is another example of violence that children face, the 1999 shootings. The bombing that happened in 1995 in Oklahoma city also took innocent lives and endangered the community's sense of safety.

Children are physically hurt every year and they witness others that are damaged in disasters and violence. They also are subject to horrendous abuse sexually. No matter if they are directly involved or witness an horrific event, they will suffer trauma.

A child sees things in a child-like manner and trying to understand trauma is extremely difficult for them. Because of this they do react in different ways than adults. A child needs support to deal the deep feelings of pain they suffer and the fear they internalize. Grown-ups are their support system and chidlren need their help to recover from emotional issues.

The family support group needs to understand that there are actually two ways trauma is evidenced and that is physically and emotionally. The feelings and thoughts of the child are compromised by the trauma. The child's body can react to the trauma in a physical way by developing physical ailments.

The behavior patterns of the traumatized child will be changed and their responses may become intensified to feelings of fear and pain that causes them to be detached or withdraw, have difficulties concentrating, problems with sleeping, or become seriously aggressive and irritable. They tend to be constantly expecting something more terrible to happen at any minute or keep reliving the trauma. This is called post-traumatic stress disorder.

The severity of the PTSD depends on the length of the trauma involved or whether the child was directly involved or a witness. To explain, a child who is injured in a shooting at school will be more intensely emotionally compromised that the child who was somewhere else in the school when it happened. Both incidences are very traumatic and both children need their support group for help. If the child lives in a violent environment, they are much more likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder.