Home      Login

Abstract: 

People live with a general awareness of different traumas such as vehicle crashes, shootings, natural disasters, abuse, and neglect. However, recent terrorism and plane crashes close to home have forced many in the United States to grapple with trauma on a new level. One major concern is our youth. Over the past decade, the growth in our knowledge of how trauma affects children and adolescents has been dramatic. However, like many other psychological conditions, the recognition and treatment of trauma in youth has lagged behind the adult literature. The relative novelty of the PTSD diagnosis, the developmental variations in its presentation, and the lack of good assessment tools for children create difficulty in identifying children and adolescents who may have impairments due to traumatic stress.

Keywords: 

Affiliations:  1: Center for the Advancement of Children’s Mental Health at Columbia University; 2: Center for the Advancement of Children’s Mental Health at Columbia University.