Natural disasters and the neurodevelopmental response to trauma in childhood: a brief overview and call to action

Abstract

The majority of past research on the neurodevelopmental response to trauma has concentrated on measures of physiology and brain structure in youths who have experienced interpersonal traumas, such as violence and neglect. Natural disaster-related trauma may differ from interpersonal trauma in several ways, but the paucity of disaster-related imaging studies makes it impossible to draw any clear conclusions with regard to this trauma type. This article highlights the literature gap in brain imaging studies of pediatric post-traumatic stress disorder secondary to natural disasters, and presents how research on disaster-exposed youths could enhance our understanding of the neurodevelopmental response to trauma.

Keywords:

• MRI
• natural disaster
• neurodevelopment
• pediatric
• post-traumatic stress disorder
• trauma

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.