» Life Topics » Family & Relationships » Domestic Violence
What We're Learning About Treating Trauma in Children and Adolescents
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), a part of the Federal Government's National Institutes of Health, supports research on the brain and a wide range of mental disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and related conditions. The Department of Veterans Affairs also conducts research in this area with adults and their family members.
Recent research findings include:
- Some studies show that counseling children very soon after a catastrophic event may reduce some of the symptoms of posttraumatic stress syndrome (PTSD). A study of 12,000 schoolchildren who lived through a hurricane in Hawaii found that those who got counseling early on were doing much better two years later than those who did not.
- Parents' responses to a violent event or disaster strongly influence their children's ability to recover. This is particularly true for mothers of young children. If the mother is depressed or highly anxious, she may need to get emotional support or counseling in order to be able to help her child.
- Community violence can have a profound effect on teachers as well as students. One study of Head Start teachers who lived through the 1992 Los Angeles riots showed that 7% had severe post-traumatic stress symptoms, and 29% had moderate symptoms. Children also were acutely affected by the violence and anxiety around them. They were more aggressive and noisy and less likely to be obedient or get along with each other.
- PTSD is often accompanied by depression. In a group of teenage school students who survived a terrorist shooting in Brooklyn, New York, 4 of the 11 survivors interviewed had both PTSD and depression. In another study, this one involving adults, depression occurred in 44.5% of PTSD patients at 1 month after the traumatic event and in 43.2% at 4 months. Depression must be treated along with PTSD in these instances, and early treatment is best.
- Either being exposed to violence within the home for an extended period of time or exposure to a one-time event like an attack by a dog can cause PTSD in a child. Some scientists believe that younger children are more likely to develop the disorder than older ones.
Inner-city children experience the greatest exposure to violence. A study of young adolescent boys from inner-city Chicago showed that 68% had seen someone beaten up and 22.5% had seen someone shot or killed. Youngsters who had been exposed to community violence were more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior or depression within the following year.
NIMH-supported scientists are continuing to conduct research into the impact of violence and disaster on children and adolescents. For example, one study will follow 6,000 Chicago children from 80 different neighborhoods over a period of several years. It will examine the emotional, social and academic effects of exposure to violence. In some of the children, the researchers will look at the role of stress hormones in a child or adolescent's response to traumatic experiences.
Another study will deal specifically with the victims of school violence, attempting to determine what places children at risk for victimization at school and what factors protect them. It is particularly important to conduct research to discover which individual, family, school and community interventions work best for children and adolescents exposed to violence or disaster, and to find out whether it is possible for a well-intended but ill-designed intervention to set the youngsters back by keeping the trauma alive in their minds. Through research, NIMH hopes to gain knowledge to lessen the suffering that violence and disasters impose on children and adolescents and their families.
Source:
Link: Find A Therapist
Take a test:
See also:
|
 |
 |
|
