October 14, 2024 • 7 mins
Tampa Bay residents have lived through high water, flooding and high winds from two major hurricanes -- Helene and Milton. As stressful as it's been for adults, how are children and teens dealing with the stress, and what are the signs of bigger problems? We speak with Jennifer Katzenstein, PhD, the director of psychology, neuropsychology and social work, and co-director of the Center for Behavioral Health at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Gordon Bird Beyond the News. We've had a lot happen
in the last two weeks. If you are in the
Tampa Bay area, we've had two hurricanes, Helene and Milton,
and many of us know firsthand that it's a stressful experience.
But if you have children at home, they have their
own stress and how do you help them deal with
the disruption and the after effects of two big storms.
(00:20):
Doctor Jennifer Katzenstein is the director of psychology, neuropsychology and
Social Work and co director of the Center for Behavioral
Health at Johns Hopkins Old Children's Hospital in Saint Petersburg
and joins us now on Beyond the News. Welcome in.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Doctor, Thank you so much, Gordon for having me. This
is such an important topic.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Now we've all been through this and we've been dealing
with our own issues and trying to get in some
cases families going through the disruption and everything, and maybe
they need to look in as far as you may
not have been focused firsthand on the experiences that your
(01:02):
children are having. If you have young children in the household,
what are the signs that parents and guardians should be
looking for of possible stress that the children are experiencing
because of all this disruption.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Certainly over the past month, all of our population, our
whole Floridians have experienced so much disruption, and certainly in
the Tampa Bay area, we've seen that for families. When
we have kids teenagers in our homes and they've experienced
varying levels of disruption from the time away from school
and time away from routine, as well as potentially devastating
(01:37):
loss of their homes and potentially even a family member,
we need to be monitoring them really closely. They can
have experiences such as more anxiety or fear or worry
about the safety of others, including pets, and also potential
worry about future storms or another storm that may be coming.
In addition to that, they might have additional anxiety physically
(02:00):
related to any fear leaving their family or separation, so
we want to be monitoring that really closely. Some of
the symptoms or signs you might see or changes in
behavior include seeing an increased activity level, increased irritability, difficulty separating,
maybe withdrawal, withdrawal from previously enjoyed activities or from friends,
(02:22):
changes in sleep, changes in appetite, but then also physical
complaints like headaches or stomach aches too, and how does.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
It manifest differently. It may be differently so in an
elementary school age child or younger as opposed to an adolescent.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Exactly an adolescence, we're more likely to see that irritability.
And sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between teenage
irritability and irritability that's related to anxiety and depression. But
if you feel like you're walking on eggshells around your teenager,
that you're about to set them off, or that they're
in their room potentially on their device for all of
their time, that's when we really want to start watching
(02:56):
them closely for anxiety and depression. When it comes to
our younger kids, our toddlers, and our early school age kids,
we're really looking for more meltdowns, the crying that comes
out of nowhere over a very small thing that they
wouldn't have gotten upset about before. Maybe some changes in
sleep and appetite, but the separation from the caregiver and
the anxiety that they experienced potentially leaving them to go
(03:19):
back to school or to go to an activity or
to take care can be a big sign or symptom
that anxiety and the potential transitions and changes in routine
we've experienced have impacted them more significantly.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
As we're recording this, there may be families that have
had to move and relocate and experienced that disruption and
that dislocation as they're trying to deal with the normal
routines of getting their children back to school and what
(03:51):
steps can be taken, what can you do to minimize
that disruption as you're experiencing it being in a different
place and not being in routine and things like that.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
This is incredibly challenging, and I would say, even for
myself having been displaced ever so slightly during the storm,
it's about keeping those routines as much as you can,
so a normal bedtime, wake up time, maintaining meal times.
It can be incredibly challenging when we have so many stressors,
or if we've lost our home to even as adults,
remember that we need to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner
(04:28):
and maybe a snack in there too, but incredibly important
for our kids. And then, whenever possible, make sure that
we're also maintaining expectations so the family rules shouldn't change
during this time. Good behavior, respect for others' kindness. Those
family values that we have are the rules that are
individual to each family should be held in mind and
(04:50):
kept during this time. One thing that's really challenging is
making sure that our kids aren't overutilizing their social media
or their device I use during this time. But really, parents,
giving yourselves a little bit of grace here, because we
may need to be working through something in our homes
or getting transitioned to a different setting, and so monitoring
(05:12):
what's on that device, making sure that what they're watching
is educational if possible, but positive as well, and then
trying to keep that screen time to no more than
two to three hours per day right now.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
I remember reading some years ago about someone who had
experienced Hurricane Andrew in South Florida when they were just
seven years old with the winds blowing through, and it
was written several years afterwards and mentioned that they still
had a strong response, a fear response, whenever there were
(05:46):
certain types of loud noises. And this indicates a hurricane
is the kind of event, especially if you were experiencing
it firsthand and going through it at the time, that
can leave an impact on you for years to come,
especially you know as a child. So what should parents
(06:08):
be watching for as far as whether they see some
kind of if they see some kind of long term
impact or response like that in their children, what are
the best ways of dealing with something like that.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Incredibly important to be monitoring our kids long term, So
not even the next few weeks, but as you mentioned,
really we're thinking about even six eight weeks from now,
months and years, and so if we see our kids
experiencing nightmares that are related to the event, night terrors,
waking up in the night, anything with that disruption to sleep,
where they're thinking back or remembering the experience because it
(06:44):
was harrowing for so many But in addition, if they're
reliving it in some way or having a really significant
response to future thunderstorms, future storm thunderstorm warnings, we still
are going to see lots of thunderstorms here in Florida,
then we're starting to see that trauma reaction evolve over time.
And for parents, Number one, we want to reassure our kids.
(07:04):
We want to make sure that we have them have
everything that they need to be safe, keeping them as
safe as possible, and reminding them of that, sharing with
them what we're doing to keep them safe. But if
we are experiencing nightmares and getting to that reliving of
the experience with a significant reaction, then it's time to
see a counselor or psychologist or a trusted therapist to
be able to start some good cognitive behavioral therapy and
(07:27):
exposure therapy.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Doctor Jennifer Katzenstein, Director of psychology, neuropsychology, and social work
and co director of the Center for Behavioral Health at
Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, thank you, as always for
joining us on beyond the News.
Gordon Bird Beyond the News. We've had a lot happen
in the last two weeks. If you are in the
Tampa Bay area, we've had two hurricanes, Helene and Milton,
and many of us know firsthand that it's a stressful experience.
But if you have children at home, they have their
own stress and how do you help them deal with
the disruption and the after effects of two big storms.
(00:20):
Doctor Jennifer Katzenstein is the director of psychology, neuropsychology and
Social Work and co director of the Center for Behavioral
Health at Johns Hopkins Old Children's Hospital in Saint Petersburg
and joins us now on Beyond the News. Welcome in.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Doctor, Thank you so much, Gordon for having me. This
is such an important topic.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Now we've all been through this and we've been dealing
with our own issues and trying to get in some
cases families going through the disruption and everything, and maybe
they need to look in as far as you may
not have been focused firsthand on the experiences that your
(01:02):
children are having. If you have young children in the household,
what are the signs that parents and guardians should be
looking for of possible stress that the children are experiencing
because of all this disruption.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Certainly over the past month, all of our population, our
whole Floridians have experienced so much disruption, and certainly in
the Tampa Bay area, we've seen that for families. When
we have kids teenagers in our homes and they've experienced
varying levels of disruption from the time away from school
and time away from routine, as well as potentially devastating
(01:37):
loss of their homes and potentially even a family member,
we need to be monitoring them really closely. They can
have experiences such as more anxiety or fear or worry
about the safety of others, including pets, and also potential
worry about future storms or another storm that may be coming.
In addition to that, they might have additional anxiety physically
(02:00):
related to any fear leaving their family or separation, so
we want to be monitoring that really closely. Some of
the symptoms or signs you might see or changes in
behavior include seeing an increased activity level, increased irritability, difficulty separating,
maybe withdrawal, withdrawal from previously enjoyed activities or from friends,
(02:22):
changes in sleep, changes in appetite, but then also physical
complaints like headaches or stomach aches too, and how does.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
It manifest differently. It may be differently so in an
elementary school age child or younger as opposed to an adolescent.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Exactly an adolescence, we're more likely to see that irritability.
And sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between teenage
irritability and irritability that's related to anxiety and depression. But
if you feel like you're walking on eggshells around your teenager,
that you're about to set them off, or that they're
in their room potentially on their device for all of
their time, that's when we really want to start watching
(02:56):
them closely for anxiety and depression. When it comes to
our younger kids, our toddlers, and our early school age kids,
we're really looking for more meltdowns, the crying that comes
out of nowhere over a very small thing that they
wouldn't have gotten upset about before. Maybe some changes in
sleep and appetite, but the separation from the caregiver and
the anxiety that they experienced potentially leaving them to go
(03:19):
back to school or to go to an activity or
to take care can be a big sign or symptom
that anxiety and the potential transitions and changes in routine
we've experienced have impacted them more significantly.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
As we're recording this, there may be families that have
had to move and relocate and experienced that disruption and
that dislocation as they're trying to deal with the normal
routines of getting their children back to school and what
(03:51):
steps can be taken, what can you do to minimize
that disruption as you're experiencing it being in a different
place and not being in routine and things like that.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
This is incredibly challenging, and I would say, even for
myself having been displaced ever so slightly during the storm,
it's about keeping those routines as much as you can,
so a normal bedtime, wake up time, maintaining meal times.
It can be incredibly challenging when we have so many stressors,
or if we've lost our home to even as adults,
remember that we need to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner
(04:28):
and maybe a snack in there too, but incredibly important
for our kids. And then, whenever possible, make sure that
we're also maintaining expectations so the family rules shouldn't change
during this time. Good behavior, respect for others' kindness. Those
family values that we have are the rules that are
individual to each family should be held in mind and
(04:50):
kept during this time. One thing that's really challenging is
making sure that our kids aren't overutilizing their social media
or their device I use during this time. But really, parents,
giving yourselves a little bit of grace here, because we
may need to be working through something in our homes
or getting transitioned to a different setting, and so monitoring
(05:12):
what's on that device, making sure that what they're watching
is educational if possible, but positive as well, and then
trying to keep that screen time to no more than
two to three hours per day right now.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
I remember reading some years ago about someone who had
experienced Hurricane Andrew in South Florida when they were just
seven years old with the winds blowing through, and it
was written several years afterwards and mentioned that they still
had a strong response, a fear response, whenever there were
(05:46):
certain types of loud noises. And this indicates a hurricane
is the kind of event, especially if you were experiencing
it firsthand and going through it at the time, that
can leave an impact on you for years to come,
especially you know as a child. So what should parents
(06:08):
be watching for as far as whether they see some
kind of if they see some kind of long term
impact or response like that in their children, what are
the best ways of dealing with something like that.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Incredibly important to be monitoring our kids long term, So
not even the next few weeks, but as you mentioned,
really we're thinking about even six eight weeks from now,
months and years, and so if we see our kids
experiencing nightmares that are related to the event, night terrors,
waking up in the night, anything with that disruption to sleep,
where they're thinking back or remembering the experience because it
(06:44):
was harrowing for so many But in addition, if they're
reliving it in some way or having a really significant
response to future thunderstorms, future storm thunderstorm warnings, we still
are going to see lots of thunderstorms here in Florida,
then we're starting to see that trauma reaction evolve over time.
And for parents, Number one, we want to reassure our kids.
(07:04):
We want to make sure that we have them have
everything that they need to be safe, keeping them as
safe as possible, and reminding them of that, sharing with
them what we're doing to keep them safe. But if
we are experiencing nightmares and getting to that reliving of
the experience with a significant reaction, then it's time to
see a counselor or psychologist or a trusted therapist to
be able to start some good cognitive behavioral therapy and
(07:27):
exposure therapy.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Doctor Jennifer Katzenstein, Director of psychology, neuropsychology, and social work
and co director of the Center for Behavioral Health at
Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, thank you, as always for
joining us on beyond the News.
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