Helping Children and Adolescents Cope with Violence and Disasters: What Rescue Workers Can Do - Rescue Workers Helping Children and Adolescents Cope with Violence and Disasters

Written by NIMH

Children Age 6 to 11

Children in this range may:

• Isolate themselves
• Become quiet around friends, family, and teachers
• Have nightmares or other sleep problems
• Become irritable or disruptive
• Have outbursts of anger
• Start fights
• Be unable to concentrate
• Refuse to go to school

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• Complain of physical problems
• Develop unfounded fears
• Become depressed
• Become filled with guilt
• Feel numb emotionally
• Do poorly with school and homework

Adolescents Age 12 to 17

Children in this range have various reactions:

• Flashbacks to the event (flashbacks are the mind reliving the event)
• Avoiding reminders of the event
• Drug, alcohol, tobacco use and abuse
• Antisocial behavior i.e. disruptive, disrespectful, or destructive behavior
• Physical complaints
• Nightmares or other sleep problems
• Isolation or confusion
• Depression
• Suicidal thoughts

Adolescents may feel guilty. They may feel guilt for not preventing injury or deaths. They also may have thoughts of revenge.

More About Trauma and Stress

Some children will have prolonged problems after a traumatic event. These may include grief, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Children may show a range of symptoms:

• Re-experiencing the event
  • Through play
  • Through trauma-specific nightmares/dreams
  • In flashbacks and unwanted memories
  • By distress over events that remind them of the trauma
• Avoidance of reminders of the event
• Lack of responsiveness
• Lack of interest in things that used to interest them
• A sense of having "no future"
• Increased sleep disturbances
• Irritability
• Poor concentration
• Be easily startled
• Behavior from earlier life stages