Media advisory: Amid spring’s volatile severe weather, professor can discuss stress, phobia

LAWRENCE — Karen Multon, professor of counseling psychology in the Department of Psychology & Research in Education at the University of Kansas, is available to speak with media about severe weather phobia as well as the psychological and physiological strain severe weather can place upon people.

While severe weather can strike at any time, blizzards and icy conditions have recently struck the East Coast and Midwest, and the upcoming spring brings the potential for tornadoes, wildfires and other events. In Kansas, Severe Weather Awareness Week is March 2-6, and the National Weather Service has scheduled similar awareness events from early March through fall.

Multon has published and presented research on the topic with her daughter Jill Coleman, a climatologist and associate professor of geography at Ball State University. Multon can discuss what makes anxiety about weather rise to the level of a phobia, symptoms individuals with the phobia experience, how it can negatively affect their daily lives, how education is related to the phobia and related topics. Multon also is working on a treatment plan for individuals who suffer from the phobia as part of upcoming research.

To schedule an interview, contact Mike Krings at 785-864-8860 or by email.