Posttraumatic stress in children following acute physical injury

Abstract

Results suggest that many children who have been hospitalized for physical trauma may be experiencing clinically significant PTSD symptomatology and may benefit from psychological as well as medical intervention.

Exposure and Peritraumatic Response as Predictors of Posttraumatic Stress in Children Following the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing

“…It was even more important than physical exposure, relationship to direct victims, bomb-related television viewing, and lingering safety concerns and worry in predicting PTSD reactions. These findings are consistent with other studies [25][26][27]29,[41][42][43] and support the inclusion of the child's subjective experience at the time of exposure in the diagnostic criteria for PTSD.…”

“…Preexisting emotional and behavioral problems 26,41,[44][45][46] and prior trauma 27,44 may influence the child's response at the time of exposure and later. Preexisting internalizing symptoms such as anxiety and depression, 25,26,41 which themselves may influence the child's peritraumatic response to a traumatic experience, are especially important. The retrospective report of peritraumatic response also may have been biased by current symptomatology as items on the peritraumatic response and PTSS scales and the WORRY variable, to some extent, measured similar feeling states.…”

“…[25][26][27][28][29] In a study of children after a school shooting, Schwarz and Kowalski 29 recommended that initial physiologic and emotional response be considered an aspect of exposure. Vernberg and colleagues 30 included perceived life threat in their measure of exposure in children following Hurricane Andrew; the exposure variable, in combination with other factors, was highly predictive of later PTSD symptoms.…”

Rebound Effects Following Deliberate Thought Suppression: Does PTSD Make a Difference?

“…Deliberate thought suppression emerged as a significant predictor of PTSD at 12 months, along with a collection of other demographic, psychological, and trauma characteristic factors. Thus, thought suppression may play a role in the etiology or maintenance of PTSD, based on this and related naturalistic studies (e.g., Morgan, Mathews, & Winton, 1995;Aaron, Zagul, & Emery, 1999). However, naturalistic studies do not allow precision in measurement when considering the role of thought suppression.…”

Aceptación de miedos a la recaída en pacientes con cáncer de mama: efectos de una intervención abreviada basada en la ACT

“…It may have a significant impact on life functioning (58) , although not all painful events are traumatic (59) . Even though avoidance or control of the private or inner experience often becomes a goal of survivors after a traumatic experience (60) , suppression of private events seems to be linked to greater severity, longer persistence of symptoms, more frequency of rumination and less efficient coping (61,62) . In this context, how early the psychological intervention is provided can be considered a key issue.…”