child psychiatry, psychotherapy, PTSD

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder caused by several distressing events that are related with psychotrauma. It is very frequent in childhood and untreated traumatic stress symptoms in children and adolescents often result in debilitating consequences on development with increased risks for a variety of physical and mental disorders. Ιt has been found that PTSD symptoms are reduced as soon as therapeutic interventions have been applied. The aim of the present review was to summarize the available literature regarding aggravating factors associated with the development of PTSD in children after hospitalization and assessment tools for a quick and reliable screening of children who are at risk for developing PTSD...

OBJECTIVE: In literature, recent evidence has shown that the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis can be dysregulated in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and HPA axis hormones may predict the psychotherapy treatment response in patients with PTSD. In this study, it was aimed to investigate changing cortisol and DHEA-S levels post-eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy and the relationship between treatment response and basal cortisol, and DHEA-S levels before treatment...

Despite high rates of trauma exposure (46%-96%) and significant posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; 21%-29%) symptoms in adolescent psychiatric inpatients, there is a dearth of research on effective interventions delivered in inpatient settings. The current report describes the development of Brief STAIR-A, a repeatable 3-module version of skills training in affective and interpersonal regulation (STAIR) developed for adolescents in inpatient care. An uncontrolled design was used to conduct a preliminary examination of the group intervention's effectiveness...

OBJECTIVE: Systematic exploration of potentially traumatic events and posttraumatic stress symptoms of patients attending a hospital for child and adolescent psychiatry and psychotherapy. METHODS: The UCLA PTSD Reaction Index for DSM-IV was filled in by 413 children and adolescents and 403 caregivers at their first attendance at the clinic. RESULTS: At least one traumatic event was reported by 46.9% of the children and adolescents and/or caregivers...

Trauma comes as a result of the subject's exposure to extremely negative and stressful events, such as natural or human-provoked catastrophes, wars, serious injuries, violent deaths, tortures, terrorist attacks, rapes and other sexual crimes. A child's exposure to traumatic circumstances of this level during the crucial period of self-structuring creates rather difficult conditions for its development. Moreover, if the child does not have the opportunity to elaborate and analyze all these stressful conditions and put them into words, serious consequences, both psychological and somatic, may occur in adult life...

OBJECTIVE: This study surveyed practices in treating childhood PTSD among child psychiatrists and non-M.D. therapists with self-identified interest in treating traumatized children. METHOD: An anonymous survey was mailed to 207 child psychiatrists ("medical") and 460 nonphysician ("non-medical") therapists inquiring about current interventions used to treat children with PTSD. RESULTS: Two hundred and forty-seven responses were received: of 77 medical and 82 nonmedical respondents who currently treat children with PTSD, a wide variety of modalities are used...

TOPIC: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosed in a 9-year-old who witnessed her parents' murder and suicide. PURPOSE: To provide a historical overview of PTSD in children in general and to discuss one case study in particular. SOURCES: Personal observations and experiences, and a review of both classic and contemporary literature in child psychiatry and developmental psychology. CONCLUSIONS: Supportive psychotherapy for a traumatized child with clinical supervision for the care-giver showed evidence of the recovery process in one PTSD case study...

These practice parameters review the current state of knowledge about posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children and adolescents. The parameters were written to aid clinicians in the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with PTSD symptoms. A literature search and extensive review were conducted in order to evaluate the existing empirical and clinical information in this regard. Expert consultation was also solicited. The main findings of this process were that a wide variety of stressors can lead to the development of PTSD symptoms in this population; that the specific PTSD symptoms manifested may vary according to the developmental stage of the child and the nature of the stressor, and for this reason, the diagnostic criteria for PTSD in adults may not adequately describe this disorder in children and adolescents; that several factors seem to mediate the development of childhood PTSD following a severe stressor; and that most of the therapeutic interventions recommended for children with PTSD are trauma-focused and include some degree of direct discussion of the trauma...

Women with current posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) comprise 30-59% of substance abuse treatment samples and experience a more severe course than women with either disorder alone. As yet, no effective treatment for this population has been identified. This paper reports outcome results on 17 women who completed a new manual-based 24-session cognitive behavioral group therapy protocol treatment, based on assessments at pretreatment, during treatment, posttreatment, and at 3-month follow-up. Results showed significant improvements in substance use, trauma-related symptoms, suicide risk, suicidal thoughts, social adjustment, family functioning, problem solving, depression, cognitions about substance use, and didactic knowledge related to the treatment...

OBJECTIVE: The Addiction Severity Index (ASI) includes items to assess patients' history of trauma (physical or sexual). The goal of this study was to assess the sensitivity and specificity of those questions in relation to the Trauma History Questionnaire (THQ), a more thorough measure of lifetime trauma and, in addition, to an actual posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis. METHOD: At the start of treatment cocaine dependent outpatients (N = 110, 65.5% male) were assessed on the ASI, the THQ and a PTSD symptom checklist as part of a multisite clinical trial...

OBJECTIVE: To review current knowledge about the clinical presentation, assessment, and treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children. METHOD: The literature on PTSD in children is examined. RESULTS: Over the past 10 years, PTSD has been described in children exposed to a variety of traumatic experiences. Little is known about the epidemiology of the disorder in children. Partial symptomatology and comorbidity are common. A variety of factors influence response to trauma and affect recovery...