| In "Coping with disasters": a guidebook to psychological intervention" Ehrenreich (2001, 25-28) ( pdf) describes a number of dangerous myths about children and trauma. Two myths Two myths are potential barriers to recognizing children's responses to disaster and must be rejected: - That children are innately resilient and will recover rapidly, even from severe trauma.
- That children, especially young children, are not affected by disaster unless they are disturbed by their parents' responses.
Both of these beliefs are false. A wealth of evidence indicates that children experience the effects of disaster doubly. Even very young children are directly affected by experiences of death, destruction, terror, personal physical assault, and by experiencing the absence or powerlessness of their parents. They are also indirectly affected through identification with the effects of the disaster on their parents and other trusted adults (such as teachers) and by their parents' reactions to the disaster. Barrier Another barrier to recognizing children's responses to disaster is the tendency of parents to misinterpret their children's reactions. To parents who are already under stress, a child's withdrawal, regression, or misconduct may be understood as willful. Or, parents may not wish to be reminded of their own trauma or, seeking some small evidences that their life is again back in control, may have a need to see everything as "all right." In either case, they may ignore or deny evidence of their children's distress. The child, in turn, may feel ignored, not validated, not nurtured. This may have long term consequences for the child's development. In the short run, feeling insecure, the child may inhibit expression of his or her own feelings, lest he or she distress and drive away the parents even more. |  |