Speaker 1: Let's say good morning now to you see San Diego
Speaker 1: Professor got Mishra. Good morning, doctor Mishra.
Speaker 2: Good morning Amy, it's good to be here.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us this morning. There's
Speaker 1: a new study out and it really caught my eye
Speaker 1: because so many people in southern California have been affected
Speaker 1: by the wildfires and Pacific Palisades and Altadena. I mean,
Speaker 1: thousands of people lost absolutely everything, and we had been
Speaker 1: talking at the time and after that the effects of
Speaker 1: the fires are going to be much more far reaching
Speaker 1: than we can even imagine. And your research shows that
Speaker 1: trauma suffered by wildfire victims is even affecting how.
Speaker 2: We think that's correct.
Speaker 1: Okay, can you tell us a little bit about your
Speaker 1: research and what you've found out.
Speaker 2: Sure, we have been studying California's deadliest wildfire today, the
Speaker 2: campfire from twenty eighteen that really wiped out the town
Speaker 2: of Paradise for many years now, and we've looked at
Speaker 2: mental health impacts that include symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety,
Speaker 2: and depression, and we've shown that alongside these mood symptoms
Speaker 2: that can also be cognitive impacts. In twenty twenty three,
Speaker 2: we published a first study showing that individuals who are
Speaker 2: exposed to the buyers are highly distractable. They're unable to
Speaker 2: pay attention to the task at hand, and everything in
Speaker 2: the environment seems really threatening and so everything is salient
Speaker 2: and the individual feels highly distractable to that information. Now,
Speaker 2: we also wanted to study that how all of this
Speaker 2: cognitive impact then plays out on decision making. Every day,
Speaker 2: we have to make important decisions and we have to
Speaker 2: really track information to say what is the better decision
Speaker 2: for us in the long term. I've given the examples
Speaker 2: of say you want to take on a job right now,
Speaker 2: which may be a small time job, versus say you
Speaker 2: want to get some education and then get a bigger
Speaker 2: job later on, and you have to make that important
Speaker 2: decision for yourself what is better for you in the
Speaker 2: long term. Similarly, people who are in disaster recovery, you
Speaker 2: have to make many important decisions for rebuilding. Therefore, studying
Speaker 2: decision making is very important, and we found that that
Speaker 2: ability specifically impacted in people who are directly impacted by
Speaker 2: the fires, directly exposed to the fires, and this impact, unfortunately,
Speaker 2: can be long lasting, even when people had experienced the fires.
Speaker 2: A year before this decision making impact was observed.
Speaker 1: Okay, doctor Mischer. So you're saying it's impacting decision making.
Speaker 1: Is it that people can't make decisions, can't stick to decisions,
Speaker 1: or are making bad decisions, or all of the above.
Speaker 2: It's more that they're making bad decisions. They're making decisions
Speaker 2: that are more impulsive that would be beneficial in the
Speaker 2: short term but not beneficial in the long term.
Speaker 1: Okay, And so why is this happening. Is it because
Speaker 1: there's too much up in the air and because they've
Speaker 1: lost everything and they just don't know which direction to turn,
Speaker 1: and so, like you said, they might make something more
Speaker 1: impulsive to get a quick fix as opposed to thinking
Speaker 1: it out for the long term.
Speaker 2: Yes, that why is part of the research. We've shown
Speaker 2: that brain function can really be impacted after suffering a
Speaker 2: catastrophic event. In fact, this has been called the fire
Speaker 2: brain phenomena, where the brain really gets hyper aroused, hyper alert,
Speaker 2: and it's almost as if it's highly active and looking
Speaker 2: out for threats all the time, even though they're no
Speaker 2: longer threats. After the fire, the brain stays in that
Speaker 2: wired state and is unable to make the right decisions
Speaker 2: even though it's trying to make that effort, and this
Speaker 2: effect can be long lasting, and these brain impacts then
Speaker 2: are making our cognitive abilities worse.
Speaker 1: That's so interesting, and doctor Mischrad, this affects I mean
Speaker 1: tens of thousands of people directly, and then thousands more
Speaker 1: family members and friends who know people who've lost homes
Speaker 1: and that kind of thing. So is there anything that
Speaker 1: you can give advice, give some advice on, like how
Speaker 1: do you choose to make better decisions?
Speaker 2: Absolutely? I think person only. I think this is a
Speaker 2: time when we make decisions together with the family members.
Speaker 2: I would really recommend people not make important decisions, especially
Speaker 2: where they have to choose between options that are good
Speaker 2: for now versus good for the long term. Those kinds
Speaker 2: of decisions, critical decisions, rebuilding, recovery decisions, those kinds of
Speaker 2: decisions they should make with friends and family together. Especially Also,
Speaker 2: people who have not been impacted by the fires really
Speaker 2: take the recommendations of those family members in mind. All community,
Speaker 2: families and friends are here to help people who have
Speaker 2: suffered from such unfortunate disaster impacts, and our study really
Speaker 2: highlights that we should be out there helping out our
Speaker 2: community members making important decisions.
Speaker 1: It takes a village. Doctor Gioki mishra At, you see,
Speaker 1: San Diego. Thank you so much for the information. As
Speaker 1: I said, I came across this and I was like, wow,
Speaker 1: I mean, we just still don't know how much these
Speaker 1: fires are going to affect people now and for years
Speaker 1: to come. So thank you so much for the information.
Speaker 1: We appreciate it. Is there somewhere we can find out
Speaker 1: more information about it? Find the study.
Speaker 2: Yes, the paper was published in Nature Scientific Reports in
Speaker 2: mid April and it's freely available. And yeah, thank you
Speaker 2: for spreading the word about it.
Speaker 1: All right, thanks again doctor Gioki mishra At, you see
Speaker 1: San Diego.