Post-traumatic stress disorder in children.

Abstract

In the past ten years, there has been increasing recognition that children who have been exposed to traumatic events can, like traumaexposed adults, develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Practitioners therefore need to be able to recognise and treat post-traumatic stress reactions in children. However, the direct application of adult diagnostic criteria for PTSD can result in the misdiagnosis of post-traumatic stress reactions in children, while research has only recently begun to investigate the effectiveness of different treatments for children with PTSD. This article discusses issues regarding the assessment and diagnosis of post-traumatic stress reactions in children at different developmental stages, considers neurobiological, cognitive and other factors that are theorized to increase the risk of PTSD in trauma-exposed children, and evaluates current psychotherapeutic and pharmacotherapeutic treatments for childhood PTSD. The need for more systematic research on the management of PTSD in children is noted.

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