Scientific discovery: natural disasters disrupt child development

Scientists from the International University of Florida in the United States declared the disastrous impact of natural disasters on the development and psyche of children.

The researchers analyzed a half dozen thousand neurobiological data and the results of clinical examinations of children who have experienced in their lives three major disasters.

Hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and tornadoes were considered. The group of subjects included children who, together with their parents, three times made a forced evacuation from disaster sites.

The vast majority of children and adolescents complain of problems with sleep, nightmares and fears, psychiatrists have noted increased anxiety level.

As they grow up, these children do not "erase" the nightmarish memories, they are only slightly dulled and stress becomes chronic.

By adulthood, such children usually acquire one or more chronic diseases, the causes of which are rooted in psychosomatic reactions.

Now this same group of scientists intends to start developing ways combat posttraumatic brain changesto help the millions of children who fall into the epicenters of natural disasters every year in various parts of the world.