After the California, Los Angeles wildfire burnt over 10,000 homes and buildings, mental health experts warned that wildfires can affect the mental health of a person for years.
According to CNN, the associate director of the UC Climate Change and Mental Health Council, Dr. Jyoti Mishra, who researched the 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California, revealed that people who experience wildfires have anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress.
Mishra said, “It can also make you feel cognitively impacted as well. Our work has shown that it’s hard to pay attention to a singular thing when everything around you feels like it’s threatening you.”
Moreover, several other studies also found that wildfire causes people to feel stressed, angry, sad, shocked, frustrated, and depressed.
The victims of the fire lost their appetites, experienced trouble sleeping, and may turn to alcohol, drugs, or self-medication.
Dr. Yang Liu, chair of environmental health at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, in his 2024 study, showed a link between anxiety disorders and wildfire smoke exposure.
He explained, “Inhaling a lot of smoke can trigger an anxiety disorder. LA’s air quality level is 10 to 20 times above the national centre, so it’s certainly a severe smoke event for the entire Southern California region. Certainly, the LA metro region is engulfed by heavy smoke.”
Liu's research also noted that women, girls, and older adults are more prone to the negative mental health effects of wildfires.
Experts suggested that listening to music, deep-breathing exercises, and mindfulness exercises could help in calming the body and coping with the trauma.
