Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in Children
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric condition triggered by a traumatic event causing anxiety and re-experiencing of the events. PTSD can develop as a result of experiencing various types of trauma, including sexual assault, violent crimes or accidents. The primary symptoms of PTSD include flashbacks, hyperarousal symptoms and avoidance behaviours. There are pieces of evidence that PTSD can occur in children too.
Health professionals have developed some reasonable diagnostic criteria to diagnose PTSD in children. The diagnosis of PTSD in children involves the use of various instruments and psychiatric interviews to assess the child. They include; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children- Version IV (DISC-IV). The PTSD-specific psychiatric interviews include; The Child PTSD-checklist, Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale – Child and Adolescent Version (Donnelly & Amaya-Jackson, 2002).
There are measurable pieces of evidence that prove the existence of PTSD in children. The incidence of child PTSD among the children who survived specific traumatic events is in the range of thirty to sixty per cent. Community studies on children in the United States have shown that approximately 3-6% of the high school students have PTSD while 40% have experienced at least one traumatic event before (Kaminer et al., 2005).
The available information about PTSD proves that PTSD can happen in children, although the symptoms could be different from those of adults. Hence the objective should be to determine a more specific diagnostic tool for childhood PTSD and to provide appropriate psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy to the children diagnosed with PTSD.
The information in childhood PTSD meets the bar to be considered a significant public health issue. If not appropriately intervened, childhood PTSD can lead to generations suffering from psychopathologies and increased risk of mental health disorders like depression, bipolar disorders and suicidal thoughts.
There is a need to develop a more specific diagnostic tool for PTSD in children. There is also a need to establish actual numbers of the incidence of PTSD among children in the general population. Therefore it may take around five years to develop a set of recommendations for PTSD in children.
References
Donnelly, C. L., & Amaya-Jackson, L. (2002). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Children and Adolescents. Pediatric Drugs, 4(3), 159-170.
Kaminer, D., Seedat, S., & Stein, D. J. (2005). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Children. World Psychiatry, 4(2), 121.