Post-traumatic stress disorder is a type of disorder that develops in individuals who have experienced a traumatic event. It is natural to experience periods where an individual is afraid of an unpleasant event that happened previously. However, individuals with PTSD are typically characterized by the fact that they are easily scared, feel a high tension, insomnia and may periodically experience angry outbursts (Hiller et al., 2016). PTSD is known to affect a variety of people, children and adolescents being among them. Traumatic exposure to adolescent and children results in post-traumatic stress disorder a problem that is known to be quite assiduous and persistent (Hiller et al., 2016). According to Meiser-Stedman (2016), Children’s and adolescents post-traumatic stress disorder has only been delved into in the past 15 years or so. This essay aims to analyze the literature and the research that has been done regarding PTSD in children and adolescents.
Topics
The topic to be explored in this text aims to understand and comprehend the causes of post-traumatic stress disorder in children and adolescents and the changes that occur in children and adolescents twelve months after a traumatic experience (Hiller et al., 2016). Also, the topic aims to explore the interventions that can be adopted to prevent PTSD in the children and adolescents that are at risk of the same (Hiller et al., 2016). The other topic to be explored in the text is examining the response of children and adolescents to PTSD compared to adults. The text will study PTSD in children and adolescents and their response to the same (Meiser-Stedman, 2002). Additionally, the response will be compared to that of adults using the similar underlying processes (Meiser-Stedman, 2002).
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Summary
i. Literature Review
The text illustrates the application of two modern cognitive models of adults post-traumatic stress disorder in analyzing and understanding the same in children and adolescents. Notably, the text majors in the nature and types of memories of children and adolescents on traumatic experiences and how the memories have a relationship with the reoccurrence of PTSD symptoms (Meiser-Stedman, 2002). Additionally, the text defines the importance of cognitive processes in the maintenance of post-traumatic stress disorder. The independent variable, in this case, is the memories and cognitive processes while the dependent variable is the PTSD. The strength of the review is that it provides a framework for the research of the relationship between memories and PTSD thus may lead to productive treatments. The weakness of the review is that it does not explain the effects that traumatic events have on the mental development of children and adolescent, and also there is no outline of the cognitive behavior therapy that is effective in the treatment of children and adolescent PTSD.
ii. Research Paper
The research aimed to analyze and evaluate the changes in children and adolescent in the prevalence of PTSD and symptoms in 12 months after traumatic exposure. The method employed involves an evaluation of young people aged 5-18 years without including treatment trials (Hiller et al., 2016). The results of the research indicated a decrease in the prevalence and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder over the first three to six months after a traumatic exposure (Hiller et al., 2016). The absence of interventions showed a decrease in the levels of symptoms to moderate and small levels. The independent variable in these cases is time, and the dependent variable is the PTSD symptoms. The weakness of the research is that it does not offer insight into why the signs of some children remain chronic while others recover from PTSD. Additionally, the study does not explain why some children and adolescents heal naturally without interventions. The strength of the research is IT comprehensively illustrates the recovering pattern and process of children and adolescents.
Psychological Perspectives
There are two perspectives in the papers; behaviorist and humanism. Behaviorist perspective is explained by the fact that the behaviors of people are determined by the environment (McLeod, 2007). Children and adolescents experience post-traumatic stress disorder because of the previous traumatic exposures in their environment. The re-occurrence of PTSD in children results from an environment that triggers the memories of a past traumatic occurrence. There is a relationship between memories and PTSD (Meiser-Stedman, 2002). Also, the levels of symptoms decrease with time after a traumatic experience, and this can be related to the environment. An environment with interventions facilitates the recovery of PTSD (Hiller et al., 2016) On the other hand, humanism perspective, majors in the study of a person as the whole and how the behaviors of an individual are related with one's feelings and emotions (McLeod, 2007). According to Meiser-Stedman (2002), PTSD is as a result of traumatic experience; it results from excessive emotions and feelings that relate to an event that was traumatizing. The psychological perspectives are the same in both papers because they major on the behaviorism and humanism of children and adolescents that have experienced and are recovering from PTSD.
Major Questions
The major questions that are addressed are;
The similarity between the patterns of cognition of adults with PTSD to children and adolescents with the same.
The relationship of memories and PTSD on children and adolescents
The relationship between time and PTSD on children and adolescents
The recovering patterns of children and adolescents with PTSD
The models of cognition in adults with PTSD are similar to that of children. Children react to traumatic experiences similarly to adults (Meiser-Stedman, 2002). Memories are active triggers of PTSD in children and adolescents. Time is paramount to the healing of PTSD in children. According to Hiller et al. (2016), the symptoms of PTSD decrease with time.
Analysis from Other Perspectives
Biological perspectives define how genes affect the behavior. The response of children and adolescents to traumatic experiences can be genetically determined (McLeod, 2007). The short-term reaction of a child and an adolescent to trauma can be moderated by factors that are intrinsic to a child that is genetics (Meiser-Stedman, 2002). Evolutionary perspective defines the effect of adaptation to the behaviors of persons (Mcleod, 2007). Children that have adapted and survived the traumatic experiences can develop immunity towards the same. According to Hiller et al. (2016), some children heal naturally without intervention, and this can be attributed to the fact that they have adapted to PTSD which allows them to recover without intervention.
References
Hiller, R. M., Meiser-Stedman, R., Fearon, P., Lobo, S., McKinnon, A., Fraser, A., & Halligan, S. L. (2016). Research Review: Changes in the prevalence and symptom severity of child post-traumatic stress disorder in the year following trauma - a meta-analytic study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57(8), 884-898.
McLeod, S. (2007). Psychology Perspectives | Simply Psychology. Retrieved from https://simplypsychology.org/perspective.html
Meiser-Stedman, R. (2002). Towards a cognitive-behavioral model of PTSD in Children and Adolescents. Clinical child and family psychology review. 217-235.
