Lightning‐strike disaster among children

Thirty-eight children playing or observing a soccer game were the victims of a lightning strike which killed one other child. Interviews with the children and their families documented a number of emotional effects of this disaster, chiefly situational adjustment reactions. The most common reactions involved anxiety, particularly at times of storms. However, the most severely upset children exhibited sleep disturbances, separation anxiety, and nocturnal enuresis. One of two side-flash victims experienced depression for several months; the other experienced no significant emotional upset. Both suffered medical complications and had no memory for the incident. While all children reached at follow-up were doing quite well, those who were most upset by the incident were more likely to refuse to play soccer during the follow-up interval. Stories told to pictures of lightning revealed projections of the children's emotional upset, various defensive reactions to the incident and an increased sense of subjective probability for lightning injuries.