Dr. Jyoti Mishra personally knows how much stress can come with a wildfire. The associate director of the UC Climate Change and Mental Health Council and associate professor of psychiatry works at the University of California, San Diego. Her city isn\u2019t currently experiencing wildfires, but her LA-based family has fled to her home. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll our family from LA is here with us, and we\u2019re happy they\u2019ve made it,\u201d Mishra said Thursday. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping their home is safe up there, but we don\u2019t know yet.\u201d <\/p>\n
Uncertainty about losing a home or a neighborhood is one factor, studies have showed, that can contribute to an increase in mental health problems among people who experience wildfires. <\/p>\n
Mishra\u2019s research on the 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California showed that people who were personally affected by wildfires were significantly more likely to have anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress than members of communities that had not been exposed to a fire. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt can also make you feel cognitively impacted, as well,\u201d Mishra said. \u201cOur work has shown that it\u2019s hard to pay attention to a singular thing when everything around you feels like it\u2019s threatening you.\u201d <\/p>\n
That means the hundreds of thousands of people who are under evacuation orders or warnings amid some of the worst wildfires in the history of the Los Angeles area face threats not just their physical safety but also their mental health \u2013 and not just immediately after the fire passes. Mishra\u2019s studies have also showed that some people experienced problems months, or even years, after wildfires. <\/p>\n
In the immediate term, several studies have found, wildfires can be destabilizing and cause people to feel stressed and to experience feelings of anger, sadness, shock, depression and frustration. People may also lose their appetites, have trouble sleeping or have nightmares, and they may turn to drugs or alcohol to self-medicate, studies show. <\/p>\n
Depression, anxiety and trauma can affect even more people long-term, even if they never had such mental health concerns before, and research shows that post-traumatic stress disorder can linger three months to even a decade past a wildfire. <\/p>\n
It isn\u2019t just the uncertainty of knowing what happens to your neighborhood. It\u2019s also the smoke itself, according to Dr. Yang Liu, chair of environmental health at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. <\/p>\n
His 2024 study showed an association between emergency department visits for anxiety disorders and exposure to wildfire smoke. The effect was more pronounced in women, girls and older adults, with major smoke events significantly amplifying this risk. <\/p>\n
\u201cInhaling a lot of smoke can trigger an anxiety disorder. LA\u2019s air quality level is 10 to 20 times above the national center, so it\u2019s certainly a severe smoke event for the entire Southern California region. Certainly, the LA metro region is engulfed by heavy smoke,\u201d Liu said. <\/p>\n
People should protect their physical and mental health by staying out of the smoke as much as possible, he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cPeople should take precautions and close windows, avoid doing outdoor activities, and if they have a HEPA filter in their A\/C system or a standalone air filter, they should turn it on,\u201d Liu said. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just adults who should take precautions. Although children can be more resilient, Cedars-Sinai child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Sabrina Renteria said, they can also feel more helpless when a wildfire is in the area. <\/p>\n
Renteria said the fires have not reached where she lives in Marina del Rey, but her house keeps losing power from the strong winds, and the Cedars-Sinai emergency room where she works often sees more children with mental health concerns when there are wildfires. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe absolutely anticipate that this will have a huge uptick in mental health issues with children,\u201d Renteria said. <\/p>\n
Children are intuitive, she said, and can sense when something is wrong, so adults need to help them cope by being honest about what\u2019s happening and talking to them about how they\u2019re feeling. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think openly communicating with their child, saying \u2018yes, I\u2019m feeling really sad today.\u2019 Or explaining that \u2018there\u2019s a lot of things around us that\u2019s been troubling me,\u2019 and you can give examples, but then you can talk to them about how you\u2019re going to cope with this,\u201d Renteria said. <\/p>\n
Children and adults alike should get professional help if feelings like anxiety or depression linger. <\/p>\n
Renteria said it\u2019s also important to get children back to their routine, classes and friends as quickly as they can, to whatever extent is possible. <\/p>\n
\u201cJust so they have this sense of stability, because children can be very easily destabilized when their routine is sporadic,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Teens and children mimic their parents and loved ones, \u201cso it\u2019s also very important that, if you\u2019re experiencing a tragedy, that you practice and display good coping mechanisms,\u201d Renteria said. \u201cSo it\u2019s important for a parent to take care of themselves, as well.\u201d <\/p>\n
Something as simple as listening to music can help the body destress naturally, she said; so can deep-breathing exercises. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt helps slow your body\u2019s natural response to anxiety and stimulates the vagus nerve, and it calms your whole body,\u201d Renteria said. <\/p>\n
Mishra also recommends mindfulness exercises. Being mindful and present in the moment and not letting the traumas of the past slip into the present can help heal the brain, she said. <\/p>\n
Volunteering to help people in the community can be healing, Renteria suggests. Talking with others who also experienced the wildfires can also help children and adults acknowledge how they\u2019re feeling and to find common ground in their experiences, but it\u2019s important to be aware of how they\u2019re responding. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re communicating with other people, it shouldn\u2019t be a bunch of doom and gloom, especially in front of your child. And for teachers too, since children take cues from their elders,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Children and adults should limit how much news and social media they see. Adults could also check out news stories before watching them with their children and then have a conversation about them. They might want to use the stories as an opportunity to point out the good work first responders and volunteers are doing. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn many times, for these kinds of disasters, we put them in this framework of doom and gloom, but we need to shift that to a survive-and-thrive framework, where the planet that we have is just one planet and that if we all work together, we can make better things happen,\u201d Mishra said. <\/p>\n
People also need to be careful not to isolate themselves in the wake of the wildfires, she said. Those who have stronger family connections and community support are more resilient, her research shows. <\/p>\n
\u201cCollective healing is needed,\u201d Mishra said. <\/p>\n
People who are watching the wildfires from far away should be sure to keep friends and family in California in mind. <\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely reach out to others,\u201d Mishra said. <\/p>\n
There are also ways to help meet the basic needs of people who fled their homes quickly, without food or funds, by contributing directly. <\/p>\n
\u201cJust so that they can get by on a day-to-day basis and focus on rebuilding instead of having to worry about where they are going to get dinner today,\u201d Mishra said. \u201cThese are just little things that we can all help out with others, because eventually, with climate change, this is not something that\u2019s isolated to a region. It may happen one day to any of us.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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