Abstract
This paper presents an overview of the psychological effects of trauma on children and adolescents with specific attention to the epidemiology of traumatic experiences, risk factors, developmental effects, the types of traumatic experiences albeit a single event trauma or a chronic process trauma, the spectrum of clinical presentations, psychiatric and psychological comorbidities as well as assessment and therapeutic principles. In addition to the child's psychological response to the traumatic stressor communities are often devastated by natural or man made disasters. The interactions between the child's response with the family and community response as well as community interventions are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Allen JR, Whittlesey S, Pfefferbaum B, Ondersma ML: Community and coping of mothers and grandmothers of children killed in a human-caused disaster. Psychiatric Annals 29(2):85–91, 1999.
American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition. Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Association, 1994.
Bloch D, Silber E, Perry S: Some factors in the emotional reaction of children to disaster. American Journal of Psychiatry 113:416–422, 1956.
Blom GE: A school disaster: Intervention and research aspects. JAACAP 25(3):336–345, 1986.
Breslau N, Kessler RC, Chilcoat HD, Schultz LR, Davis GC, Andreski MA: Trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in the community. AGP 55:626–632, 1998.
Cohen JA (Principal Author): Practice parameter for the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with posttraumatic stress disorder. JAACAP (supp) 37(10):45–265, 1998.
Cohen JA, Mannarino AP: A treatment outcome study for sexually abused preschool children: Initial findings. JAACAP 35:42–50, 1996.
Erikson KT: Loss of a community at Buffalo Creek. American Journal of Psychiatry 133:302–330, 1976.
Famularo R, Kinscheiff R, Fenton T: Propranolol treatment for childhood traumatic stress disorder, acute type, a pilot study. Am. J. Dis. Child 142:1244–1247, 1988.
Fletcher KE: Childhood posttraumatic stress disorder, in Childhood Psychopathology. Edited by Mash EJ, Barkley RA. New York, NY, Guilford Publications, Inc., 1996, pp 242–276.
Green BG, Grace MC, Vary MG, Kramer TL, Gleser GC, Leonard AC: Children of disaster in the second decade: A 17 year follow-up of Buffalo Creek survivors. JAACAP 33:1 71–79, 1996.
Green BG, Korol M, Grace MC, Vary MG, Leonard AC, Gleser GC, Smitson-Cohen S: Children and disaster: age, gender and parental effects on PTSD symptoms. 1991.
Goenjain AK, Karayan I, Pynoos RS et al: Outcome of psychotherapy among early adolescents after trauma. Am. J. Psychiatry 154:536–542, 1997.
Harmon RJ, Riggs PD: Clinical perspectives: Clonidine for posttraumatic stress disorder in preschool children. JAACAP 35:1247–1249, 1996.
Helzer JE, Robins LN, McEvoy L: Posttraumatic stress disorder in the general population. NEJM 317:1630–1634, 1987.
Kessler RC, Sonnega A, Bromet E, Hughes M, Nelson CB: Posttraumatic stress disorder in the national comorbidity study. AGP 52:1048–1060, 1995.
La Greca A, Silverman WK, Vernberg EM, Prinstein MJ: Symptoms of posttraumatic stress in children after Hurricane Andrew, a prospective study. J. Consult. Clin. Psych. 64:712–723, 1996.
Lipschitz DS, Rasmusson AM, Southwick SM: Childhood posttraumatic stress disorder: A review of neurobiologic sequella. Psychiatric Annuals 28(8):452–457, 1998.
Looff D, Grimley P, Martin A, Shunfield L: Carbamaezpine for posttraumatic stress disorder (letter). JAACAP 34:703–704, 1995.
McFarlane AG: Posttraumatic phenomena in a longitudinal study of children following a natural disaster. JAACAP 26:764–769, 1987.
Piaget J: Six Psychological Studies. New York, NY, Random House, 1967.
Pynoos RS: Traumatic stress and developmental psychopathology in children and adolescents, in Review of Psychiatry. Edited by Oldham JM, Riba MB, Tasman A. Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Press, 1993, pp 205–238.
Pynoos RS, Frederick L, Nader K: Life threat and posttraumatic stress in school age children. AGP 44:1057–1063, 1987.
Pynoos RS, Nader K: Psychological first aid and treatment approach to children exposed to community violence: Research implications. Journal of Traumatic Stress 1(4):445–473, 1988.
Shaw JA: Children of the storm: A study of school children and Hurricane Andrew, in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Acute and Long Term Responses to Trauma and Disaster. Edited by Fullerton CS, Ursando RJ. Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Press, 1997, pp 123–143.
Shaw JA, Applegate B, Schoor C: Twenty-one month follow-up study of school age children exposed to Hurricane Andrew. JAACAP 35(3):359–364, 1996.
Shaw JA, Applegate B, Tanner S et al: Psychological effects of Hurricane Andrew on an elementary school population. JAACAP 34(9):1185–1191, 1995.
Taylor AJW, Fraser AG: Psychological sequelae of operation overdue following the DC-10 aircrash in Antarctica (Victoria University of Wellington Publications in Psychology No. 27) Wellington, New Zealand: Victoria University, 1981.
Terr L: Childhood Traumas: An Outline and Overview. Am. J. Psychiatry 148(1):10–20, 1991.
Terr L: Psychic trauma in children; observations following the Chowchilla school-bus kidnaping. Am. J. Psychiatry 138(1): 14–19, 1981.
The Expert Consensus Guideline Series: Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 60(Supp. 16), 1999.
Wright KM, Ursano RJ, Bartone PT, Ingraham LH: The shared experience of catastrophe: An expanded classification of the disaster community. Amer. J. Orthopsychiatry 60(1):35–42, 1990.
Yehuda R: Managing anger and aggression in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 60(Supp. 15):33–37, 1999.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shaw, J.A. Children, Adolescents and Trauma. Psychiatr Q 71, 227–243 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1004630127000
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1004630127000