Post Traumatic Stress Disorder In Children

What is post traumatic stress disorder?

Post traumatic stress disorder is also called PTSD. Your child may have this condition after having or facing a hurtful event that brings him pain or sorrow. The event may make your child think he or someone close to him will get hurt or die. Your child may continue to feel helpless after the event. These experiences are often repeated or relived, affecting his daily activities, school, and relationships. Treatment is needed to prevent symptoms from getting worse.

What causes PTSD?

PTSD is caused by a traumatic situation or event that your child has experienced. Examples include any of the following:

• An accident.
  
  
• A crime done to your child or a crime your child may have seen, such as a robbery.
  
  
• A serious disease, such as cancer, or the death of a loved one.
  
  
• A natural disaster, such as a flood, earthquake, hurricane, or tornado.
  
  
• Physical or sexual abuse.
  
  
• Violence, war, or terrorism.

What are the signs and symptoms of PTSD?

Signs and symptoms of PTSD in a child may be divided into three groups:

• Reliving or re-experiencing the event: This may be in the form of:
  
  
  • Your child acts, plays, or feels like the event is taking place again.
    
    
  • Your child has nightmares (bad dreams).
    
    
  • Your child has flashbacks (recalling the past) or images of the event popping into his head.
  
  
• Avoidance:
  
  
  • Your child may avoid talking about the traumatic event.
    
    
  • Your child may avoid activities, places, or people that may remind him of the traumatic event.
    
    
  • Your child may have trouble spending time with friends and family or lose interest in doing enjoyable things.
    
    
  • Your child may not express his feelings or he may act younger than his age.
    
    
  • Your child may see himself as one with no hope for the future. He may also worry about dying at an early age.
  
  
• Increased arousal (over reaction) or mood swings:
  
  
  • Your child may easily get stressed or hurt emotionally.
    
    
  • Your child may have sudden feelings of sadness, fear, or anger.
    
    
  • Your child may feel nervous, jumpy, panicky, or irritable.
    
    
  • Your child may have problems in school or trouble paying attention.
    
    
  • Your child may have sleeping problems.

How is PTSD diagnosed?

Caregivers use a guide to diagnose PTSD. Your child has PTSD if he has all of the following:

• Your child has seen, faced or experienced an event that involved serious injury, near death, or death.
  
  
• Your child's response was great fear, helplessness, or horror.
  
  
• Your child has constant symptoms of re-experiencing the traumatic event, avoidant behavior, and increased arousal.
  
  
• Your child's symptoms last more than one month.
  
  
• Your child's symptoms cause distress and affect his daily activities, school, and relationships.

How is PTSD treated?

Your child may have any of the following:

• Cognitive behavioral therapy: With a therapist, your child will learn to face his feared object or situation slowly and carefully. This may be done with the therapist or with family members. Your child will also learn to control the mental and physical reactions of fear.
  
  
  • Cognitive restructuring: Caregivers help your child learn which thoughts bring anxiety. These thoughts are replaced with more pleasant ones.
    
    
  • Exposure or desensitization: Exposure or desensitization therapy helps your child face a feared object, person, or situation. Fantasy (not real) or real-life situations are used with this therapy. The goal of desensitization therapy is to help decrease your child's fear or anxiety.
  
  
• Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing: This is also called EMDR and is a type of exposure therapy. Caregivers help your child's eyes move back and forth while he re-imagines the trauma.
  
  
• Relaxation therapy: Relaxation therapy teaches your child how to calm his body and mind. The goal is to have your child feel less physical (body) stress and have less emotional (mind) stress.
  
  
• Stress management: Caregivers will teach your child ways to relax, such as deep breathing, meditation, relaxing muscles, music, or biofeedback.
  
  
• Medicine:
  
  
  • Anti-anxiety: These medicines help your child feel less nervous.
    
    
  • Anti-convulsants: These medicines help control seizures, decrease violent behaviors, and help control your child's mood swings.
    
    
  • Anti-depressants: These medicines are given to decrease or stop the symptoms of depression and other behavior problems.
    
    
  • Tranquilizers: These medicines are also called sedatives and may be given to help your child stay calm and relaxed. Tranquilizers may also help your child sleep better at night.

What can I do to help my child?

• Help your child cope with traumatic events. Talk openly about what happened and listen to your child's worries. Assure your child that all family members are safe.
  
  
• Teach people who are close to your child about PTSD, including his teacher. Work together to help your child.

Where can I find support and more information?

Accepting that your child has PTSD is hard. You, your child, and those close to him may feel scared, depressed, or angry. These are normal feelings. Talk to your child's caregivers, your family, or friends about your feelings and those of your child. You and your child may also want to join a PTSD support group. This is a group of people who also have PTSD. Such a group can give you and your child support and information. Contact the following for more information:

• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Public Information & Communication Branch
  6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 8184, MSC 9663
  Bethesda , MD 20892-9663
  Phone: 1- 301 - 443-4513
  Phone: 1- 866 - 615-6464
  Web Address: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/
  

• American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
  3615 Wisconsin Avenue NW
  Washington , DC 20016
  Phone: 1- 202 - 966-7300
  Web Address: http://www.aacap.org
  

Care Agreement

You have the right to help plan your child's care. Learn about your child's health condition and how it may be treated. Discuss treatment options with your child's caregivers to decide what care you want for your child.

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The above information is an educational aid only. It is not intended as medical advice for individual conditions or treatments. Talk to your doctor, nurse or pharmacist before following any medical regimen to see if it is safe and effective for you.

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