Research Paper on PTSD In Children

Introduction

Many people have believed that posttraumatic stress disorder is only associated with war veterans. This is utterly not the case; this research will come in place to refute the claim that PSTD not only affects adults especially those in the war fronts or deployed, but by a greater extent, it affects children too. According to Teen-Driven News and Views from NPR'S youth desk, PTSD is exemplified not just as a war wound, but a condition that also affects teens too in the process (Hillenbrand 23). In fact, the teen's information desk put it as though there are a substantial number of almost-finishing-school students who had been diagnosed with PTSD condition.

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Based on the national survey statistics which deals with adolescents, approximately four percent of the teenage boys and six percent of teenage girls have been confirmed to have met the clinical conditions of the conditions that define posttraumatic stress disorder. Largely, what are the terrifying conditions which therefore predispose children to such a condition only people associated with veterans? There are several dimensions to look at (Prinsen, 22). The children are a forgotten lot, in many cases, they are exposed to conditions that terrify and have lasting impacts in their lives (Hillenbrand 25). For instance, the ten's desk presents one of the cases which ultimately sums up to cause PTSD in children. A case study of Romero and a friend who was attacked cast the picture clear "my friend had gone out to have a cigar when a stranger stormed in and hit us" noticeably, after the attack, Romero's family realised that she was` acting differently and could not go out as often as she used. Coupled with the fear she developed, her weight had started to deteriorate, and she manifested signs of depression (Hillenbrand 30).

Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken gives a story that depicts conditions which are patient in making a child develop PTSD. For instance "Louie Zamperini became an Olympic runner and military aviator in the second world war." Before this, Zamperini survived horrific abuses when he became a prisoner of war in Japan (Hillenbrand 32). During his early childhood, Zamperini grew up in to become a star of track-and-field events amidst delinquent childhood conditions and later joined the army as an air corps of the United States, a duty which led him to adopt a new life as a bombardier (Hillenbrand 34). However, after their plane crash survival where they were lost at sea, Japanese troops captured them and subjected them to physical and psychological torture.

The story of Zamperini is just but a tip of the iceberg which preludes conditions that generally affects children and causing the relapse of thought that take over their lives. Like the family of Zamperini, his children particularly were affected because of the long absence of their father while he was captured by the Japanese navy (Smith et al., 51). In the same manner, the case of Romero degenerated and later upon diagnosis, she was found to have developed a posttraumatic stress disorder. This is after the attack by a stranger. Ideally, contrary to the thought of many that the condition is only meant to affect the veterans and combatants, it has been found that anyone who has ever had an experience or an event that keep on taking toll of his or her thinking, have a higher chances of suffering from PTSD, and children make up a greater percentage among people who witness experiences of grater impacts to their lives (Prinsen, 26).

Children and teens have a higher possibility of developing PTSD if their lives have been in close association with events that can cause them to develop the fear that takes toll of their entire lives. Such instance includes killing or hurting someone in the presence of a child or many cases, there kidnapped children who are deployed in the war fronts by rebel groups. Some of these events include physical, sexual and violent crimes (Smith et al., 53). Apart from these horrific events, there are disasters such as floods, school shootings, car crashes and fire which are also ranked as some of the events with a higher likelihood of causing posttraumatic disorder disease.

In the United States, child protection services have on their record about three million reported cases of PTSD each year. 5.5 million Cases are typically for children and abuse constitutes about thirty percent of the crimes that cause PTSD in children. Regarding PTSD and its prevalence in teens and children, studies conducted indicate that when children are exposed to the traumatic events, of great particular, war, it leads to the development of PTSD in childhood and later in adulthood (Betancourt et al., 32). For instance, a particular study which was carried in Kuwait revealed that children who lived through the Gulf war showed that about seventy percent had developed symptoms that ranged from moderate to severe.

In many scenarios, war vets have spoken of the images, smells, and sounds of the continued impact of war that haunts. Severally, they speak of the nightmares, flashbacks and periods that brought crippling grief to humanity. As adults are affected, the children living in the war-torn or violent and terrorized regions experience double the impacts due to horrors, and destruction they witnessed (Betancourt et al., 34). Because of the atrocious events they witness, some such children make critical survival decisions such as hiding under the remains of the deceased.

Research related to means of finding specific protective mechanisms as well as early interventions are therefore needed to help in decreasing the long-term distress endured by children of war (Smith et al., 56). Ideally, early interventions programs are deemed necessary in curbing the distress which is endured by children during and after the war, the generic approach to this intervention will accentuate to children's empowerment with the zeal of creating resiliency, strength, growth as well as positive outlook as they cope with war adversities (Betancourt et al., 36).

Conclusion

One method of leveraging PTSD is through the use of therapy techniques. In this case, some pets-animals have been linked with the emotional support that helps to recover from trauma. Through dog therapy technique outlines that a beloved and trusted pet or animal could act as a lifeline when an individual they live with experiences posttraumatic stress disorder or if they are emotionally stressed (Coutu 46). The proponents of this technique assert that dog pets have an incredible way of changing people's lives for better, this includes their ability to make people or an individual smile as a result of wagging their tail or by simply staring at us. Generally, dog's nature of gentleness makes them be the perfect companion in the stressful moments; this is the reason why there are programs that are using dogs to leverage stress by providing dogs to be companions as well as emotional support to veterans and other people who have PTSD (Coutu 48). This therapeutic technique is therefore of great importance to children with PTSD coupled with other methods used to treat the condition.

Work Cited

Betancourt, Theresa S., et al. "Interventions for children affected by war: an ecological perspective on psychosocial support and mental health care." Harvard review of psychiatry21.2 (2013): 70.

Coutu, Diane L. "How resilience works." Harvard business review 80.5 (2002): 46-56.

Hillenbrand, Laura. Unbroken: A World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption. Random House Incorporated, 2010.

Smith, Patrick, et al. "Cognitive-behavioral therapy for PTSD in children and adolescents: a preliminary randomized controlled trial." Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 46.8 (2007): 1051-1061.

Prinsen, Sharlene. Blind Devotion: Survival on the Front Lines of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Addiction. Center City, Mo: Hazelden, 2012. Print.