How wildfires can pose a mental health threat that can persist even years later

Editor’s Note: If you are experiencing mental health issues due to wildfires, call 1-800-985-5990 to reach the Disaster Hotline. Call 988 to reach the Suicide and crisis lifeline.

CNN
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Dr. Jyoti Mishra knows firsthand how stressful a wildfire can be. The associate director of the UC Council on Climate Change and Mental Health and associate professor of psychiatry work at the University of California, San Diego. His city does not currently know forest firesbut his Los Angeles-based family fled back home.

“Our whole Los Angeles family is here with us and we’re happy that they made it,” Mishra said Thursday. “We hope their home is safe up there, but we don’t know yet.”

Uncertainty about losing a home or neighborhood is a factor that can contribute to an increase in mental health problems among people affected by wildfires, studies show.

Mishra’s research on the Campfire 2018 in Northern California showed that people personally affected by wildfires were significantly more likely to suffer from anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress than members of communities who had not been exposed to fire.

“It can also make you feel cognitively affected,” Mishra said. “Our work has shown that it is difficult to pay attention to a singular thing when everything around you seems to threaten you.”

This means that the hundreds of thousands of people who are under evacuation orders or warnings amid some of the worst forest fires in the history of the Los Angeles area, face threats not only to their physical safety but also to their mental health – and not just immediately after the fire passes. Mishra’s studies have also shown that some people experienced problems months or even years after the wildfires.

In the immediate future, several studies having foundWildfires can be destabilizing and cause stress and feelings of anger, sadness, shock, depression and frustration. People can also lose their appetitesI’m having trouble sleep or have nightmares, and they may turn to drugs or alcohol to self-medicate, studies show.

Depression, anxiety and trauma can affect even more people in the long term, even if they have never had such mental health problems before, and research shows that post-traumatic stress disorder can linger for three months or even a decade past a forest fire.

It’s not just the uncertainty of knowing what’s happening to your neighborhood. It’s also the smoke itself, according to Dr. Yang Liu, chair in Environmental Health at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.

Her Study 2024 showed an association between emergency room visits for anxiety disorders and exposure to wildfire smoke. The effect was more pronounced in women, girls and the elderly, with heavy smoking episodes significantly amplifying this risk.

“Inhaling a lot of smoke can trigger an anxiety disorder. Los Angeles’ air quality level is 10 to 20 times that of the National Center, so this is certainly a serious smoke event for the entire Southern California region. It is certain that the Los Angeles metropolitan area is engulfed in heavy smoke,” Liu said.

People should protect their physical and mental health by staying away from smoke as much as possible, he said.

“People should take precautions and close windows, avoid doing outdoor activities, and if they have a HEPA filter in their air conditioning system or a standalone air filter, they should turn it on,” said Liu.

Adults aren’t the only ones who need to take precautions. Although children can be more resilient, Cedars-Sinai Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist Dr. Sabrina Renteria said they may also feel more helpless when a wildfire breaks out in the area.

Renteria said the fires have not reached where she lives in Marina del Rey, but her home continues to lose power from high winds, and the emergency room at Cedars-Sinai where she works often sees more children suffering from mental health issues in wildfires.

“We absolutely anticipate that this will lead to a huge increase in mental health issues among children,” Renteria said.

Children are intuitive, she says, and can sense when something is wrong. So adults need to help them cope by being honest about what’s happening and talking to them about how they’re feeling.

“I think about communicating openly with their child, saying ‘yes, I’m feeling really sad today.’ Or explaining that ‘there are a lot of things around us that bother me,’ and you can give examples, but then you can talk to them about how you’re going to deal with that,” Renteria said.

Children and adults should seek professional help if feelings such as anxiety or depression persist.

Renteria said it’s also important to get kids back to their routines, classes and friends as quickly as possible, if at all possible.

“It’s just so they have that sense of stability, because kids can get thrown off track very easily when their routine is sporadic,” she said.

Teenagers and children imitate their parents and loved ones, “so it’s also very important, if you’re experiencing tragedy, to practice and demonstrate good coping mechanisms,” Renteria said. “So it’s important that a parent also takes care of themselves.”

Something as simple as listening to music can help the body de-stress naturally, she said; deep breathing exercises too.

“It helps slow down your body’s natural response to anxiety, stimulates the vagus nerve, and calms your entire body,” Renteria said.

Mishra also recommends mindfulness exercises. Being mindful and present in the moment and not letting past trauma creep into the present can help heal the brain, she said.

Volunteering to help people in the community can be healing, suggests Renteria. Talking with others who have also experienced the wildfires can also help children and adults recognize how they are feeling and find common ground in their experiences, but it is important to be aware of the way they react.

“When communicating with other people, it should not be a feeling of pessimism, especially in front of your child. And for teachers too, since children draw inspiration from their elders,” she explains.

Children and adults should limit the amount of news and social media they view. Adults could also read the news stories before watching them with their children and then discuss them. They may want to use the stories as an opportunity to highlight the good work done by first responders and volunteers.

“Often for these types of disasters we put them in this pessimistic framework, but we need to move that to a framework of survival and prosperity, where the planet that we have is just one planet and if we work together we can make better things happen,” Mishra said.

People also need to be careful not to isolate themselves in the wake of wildfires, she said. Those with stronger family ties and community support are more resilient, according to his research.

“Collective healing is needed,” Mishra said.

People watching the wildfires from afar should think of their friends and family in California.

“We definitely need to reach out to others,” Mishra said.

There are also ways to help meet the basic needs of people who fled their homes quickly, without food or money, by contribute directly.

“Just so they can live daily and focus on rebuilding instead of having to worry about where they’re going to eat dinner today,” Mishra said. “These are just small things that we can all contribute to others, because at the end of the day, with climate change, it’s not something that’s limited to one region. This could happen to any of us one day.