Effect of Trauma in children

Effect of Trauma in children

Effect of Trauma in children

Introduction

In this review the authors examine the cognitive, affective, behavioral, and somatic-physiological effects documented in the literature as sequelae of overwhelming life events in Children . Findings from the literature are compared with the current formulations of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, third edition, revised as this diagnostic category applies to children. Responses likely to be observed in Children who have been exposed to traumatic events are discussed. Suggestions for future research and counseling practice are presented. (Coons, 2006, 455-462)

Discussion

In recent years, counselors and researchers have become more interested in understanding the impact and treatment of the psychological effect of events that are traumatic in the lives of Children. This interest has been spurred, in part, by the demands placed on agencies and mental health service providers to intervene following large-scale disasters, such as the San Francisco earthquake and the Challenger explosion. In addition, incidents such as the Chowchilla school bus hijacking, the witnessing of the rape of a teacher in Mississippi by classroom children , the murder of a mother and child as experienced by preschoolers, and the Stockton, CA, schoolyard shooting have required counselors to mobilize quickly to aid survivors and witnesses. (Coons, 2006, 455-462)

Trauma In Children

Computer searches of psychology and education data bases and an ancestry approach were used to generate review articles. More than 2,000 articles on abuse alone were retrieved through the computer searches. Papers delivered at the fourth annual meeting of the Society for Traumatic Stress Studies in Dallas, TX, and at the fourth and fifth annual meetings of the International Society for the Study of Multiple Personality and Dissociative States in Chicago, IL, also were used. (Coons, 2006, 455-462) An attempt was made to limit the study to only those articles that were (a) relevant to the research questions and (b) published from 2000 until now; exceptions were made if the information in earlier articles was a primary source, was relevant to the inquiry questions, or was empirical. Although several researchers may have discussed the same effects of trauma, references in this review were limited to a maximum of three articles for any one effect. The review included case studies because they provide researchers with new directions for further exploration. (Erickson, Egeland, 2007, 156-168)

The effects of trauma are organized in the following sections: cognitive, affective, behavioral, and somatic-physiological. It is acknowledged that many of the effects logically could fall under two or more categories. Findings that meet the DSM-III-R criteria for PTSD are noted in each summary section, as well as effects noted in the literature that are not currently part of the PTSD criteria.

Cognitive Effects

Mowbray considered an awareness of the child's stage of cognitive development as the core feature in understanding how the child has made sense of traumatic experiences. She believed that Piaget's conception of egocentrism, in which the child views the world from his or her own ...