Trauma and Adversity in the Lives of Children and Adolescents Attending a Mental Health Service

Abstract

Although childhood trauma and family adversity can increase vulnerability to serious mental health problems, uncertainty exists about the nature and prevalence in a clinical population. This embedded research aims to establish the prevalence of trauma and adversity in young people seeking help from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). All children, adolescents, and their parents/guardian attending their initial assessment at a CAMHS service were invited to participate in the ‘Stressful Life and Family Difficulties study’ and a clinical interview. 162 families participated in the study. It was more common for young people to experience multiple adversities (three or more) in the last 12 months than single events. Mothers self-reported a greater number of family adversities than fathers. According to clinicians, the most frequent adversities experienced by young people were having a parent with a mental illness (66%), being bullied (63%) and parental divorce or separation (43%). Overall, clinicians reported that 69% of CAMHS clients had experienced a potentially traumatic experience (any physical, emotional or sexual abuse, child neglect or traumatic event). Moreover, young people with trauma histories were significantly more likely to have a parent with a history of trauma.

Prevalence of mental illness among parents of children receiving treatment within child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS): a scoping review

“…The flowchart in Figure 1 illustrates the process of screening and data extraction undertaken in the review. Overall, 18 studies [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49] were identified to have reported on the prevalence of mental illness among parents of children receiving treatment in CAMHS.…”

“…Framing of the prevalence of parental mental illness was largely dependent on the purposes of the study and research methods employed. Studies reported on prevalence of mental illness, in general, among parents of children in CAMHS [32][33] (see Table 2) or reported on the number of children attending CAMHS who had at least one parent with a mental illness [34][35][36][37][38][39] (see Table 3).…”

Nurse and patient factors: Predicting seclusion in adolescent psychiatric units

“…Furthermore, patients may respond differently to male and female nurses or perceive them differently (e.g., they might view female nurses as more empathic), which has been demonstrated regarding healthcare practitioners (Shin et al, 2015). Many adolescents entering psychiatric inpatient units have experienced trauma (Belivanaki et al, 2017; Reay et al, 2015; Vidal et al, 2020) and perpetrators of severe physical and sexual violence/abuse towards children and adolescents are more likely to be male (Hurren et al, 2018; US Department of Health and Human Services, 2005). Some patients re‐enact/re‐experience trauma, which means nurses need to be aware of patients who have a history of re‐enacting trauma, particularly when male nurses are on shift (Cutcliffe et al, 2018; Frewen & Lanius, 2006; Lahav et al, 2019; Penning & Collings, 2014; Vidal et al, 2020).…”

Clinical research in an academic psychiatry department: some general principles and case studies

“…The findings revealed that 69% of children and adolescents and 80% of mothers (in the perinatal period) who accessed the service had experienced a potentially traumatic event. 7 Our consultations with clinicians about the lack of undergraduate training in trauma-informed or specific interventions, led to the next research phase. In phase 2, we were able to show that trauma-informed care training was associated with improvements in the clinicians' attitudes, knowledge and confidence towards working with clients with trauma histories (manuscript submitted for publication).…”

“…The findings revealed that 69% of children and adolescents and 80% of mothers (in the perinatal period) who accessed the service had experienced a potentially traumatic event. 7…”