Maintain a Healthy State of Mind: High School Students (Part 1)
Disasters like hurricanes, tsunamis, the September 11, 2001, attacks, and school shootings are upsetting. These events may cause people to question their own safety, the safety of their families and friends, and what is right and wrong. These types of questions are natural.
The following information can help you prepare and cope more easily with disasters. It describes common feelings and reactions you may have, and suggests things you can do to get ready. This knowledge can reduce your fear and help you prepare for, withstand, and bounce back from these kinds of events.
What can I do before a disaster happens?
It makes sense to prepare for disasters just as you might for any major event. As a teenager, you can
- Talk about disasters with your parents—Identify ways that you have responded to stressful events in the past that were useful.
- Help your parents make a plan and prepare a disaster supplies kit—Decide how to stay in touch with them in an emergency situation.
- Learn about your school's and town's preparedness plans—Contact your local emergency management agency.
- Learn more about how you react to stress and ways to handle it
How might I react to a disaster?
People react differently to things that are stressful, and nearly everyone is able to work through problems and pain. Most people recover in weeks or months from the following kinds of natural reactions to a terrible event:
- Shock, numbness, and disbelief
- Difficulty concentrating on your school work, job, friends, or family
- Eating too much or too little
- Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, or nightmares
- Thinking too much about what happened
- Being afraid for your safety and the safety of your family, friends, police, and firefighters
- Feeling sad about the people who were injured or died
- Having upsetting thoughts or pictures in your mind of what happened—They can pop into your head or come when you're reminded of the painful event.
- Anger, a bad temper, and not trusting others—You might argue and get into fights.
- Feeling guilty or helpless
- Feeling restless or worried
- Headaches, stomachaches, skin rashes, body pains, and more severe allergic reactions
If a disaster happens, what can I do to get through it OK?
- It's a good idea to take care of yourself physically, especially when under increased stress, such as after a disaster. Drinking enough water, eating right, exercising, getting plenty of rest, and returning to a regular routine should help you feel better.
- Most people find that it helps to talk about what happened and how it makes them feel. If you feel like talking, it's a good idea to find friends, family, or other people you trust who have lived through the same kinds of things and talk to them.
- It also helps if you can find meaning in what has happened.
- Pay attention to the useful ways that you handled things.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Updated 2014, February 10). Maintain a healthy state of mind: High school students. Retrieved May 31, 2015, from http://emergency.cdc.gov