A Guide To Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) In Children & Young People Hi my name is Sam and I am here to tell you about something called Trauma, and take you through this guide. What is a traumatic experience? Something you experienced to be very scary and frightening Something you saw that was very scary and frightening Something that caused danger to you or someone you love (21) Something that threatened danger to you or someone you love Let Us Help You To Put The Pieces Together! Something that hurt you or someone you love This would be seeing or experiencing an event or situation that left you feeling afraid and helpless. Arbutus Counselling & There is a difference between an event Trauma Focussed Therapy and a situation that has been upsetting About this Guide and sad for us, to something that has been This document is for anyone who has experienced a traumatic, distressing or disturbing upsetting and traumatic for us. event and aims to provide some education around Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the effects of PTSD not just on the mind, but the body. This is a quick simple guide and it is not intended to provide all information or to be taken as such. We can tell the difference in not only how we feel and behave, but symptoms can come on any time after the event, they may even be also in our reactions and how the memories impact upon our life after delayed, but they must be lasting for more than one month before the event has passed. they will be considered as PTSD. (22) With trauma, people can feel very scared or frightened and sometimes Not everyone who experiences a out of control of their feelings, reactions and behaviours. traumatic event will go on to develop PTSD, but when This is completely normal distressing or disturbing feelings reaction to such terrifying and carry on for more than a month upsetting events. This guide will your doctor or therapist may call those feelings by its medical name of help show that you are not alone Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. Events such as these don’t and there is help available. happen often, but when they do, they can cause you to feel very afraid, upset, and helpless. What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)? It can make you question many things but the important one to When a traumatic experience bothers you for more than one month, know is, that “your thoughts and causing emotional distress and sometimes physical symptoms. feelings are a natural response to an abnormal set of circumstances PTSD can come on after a single traumatic event, however when (29) and there is hope and help someone has repeatedly experienced trauma over a prolonged period available to feel better again of time, it may be referred to as complex PTSD. In both cases, What Causes PTSD in Children and Teenagers? Examples of Upsetting and Confusing events that can cause PTSD. There can be many different examples of upsetting, confusing and frightening events; you can find some in the picture below. 43% of young boys and girls will experience a traumatic event and out of this, 6% of girls and 15% of boys will go on to develop PTSD.(4) What causes PTSD in one person may not be a cause to another person. This is because we all deal with situations in different ways, we are all individuals and as a result, an experience is very much an individual experience and should never be compared to someone else’s. THE GOOD THE UGLY • Moving up a THE BAD • Family Verbal grade orPhysical PTSD does not discriminate, • Over Scheduled Violence • Graduation PTSD does not compare or compete • Tough Classes • Getting into the • Sexual Abuse school musical • Moving BUT /play • Death of a • Sibling Rivalry Family Member • Meeting new PTSD you can beat! • Peer Pressure • Divorce friends • Bad Teacher And there is hope and help • Having a new • Bullied boy/girlfriend • Natural available to feel better again • Internet • New School Disasters Grooming • New • Car Accident Sister/Brother What Does PTSD Feel Like? Common Symptoms of PTSD by age group. It can be difficult to recognise PTSD in children and adolescents as signs look very different to what you would see in adults, so it is encouraged to speak to the young person concerned as well as the parents. Re-experiencing symptoms may take the form of re-enacting the experience, repetitive play or frightening dreams without recognisable INFANTS CHILDREN TEENAGERS content. Are you scared of Do you struggle with Is your behaviour strangers or when the order of the impulsive and PTSD can make our thoughts feel very upsetting and confusing with mummy/daddy event when talking dangerous? drops you at about it? emotions feeling out of control and over-whelming. It is important to playschool? Are you not Do you believe there sleeping or having know that these thoughts and feelings, although distressing, are a very Do some people or was warning signs? nightmares? normal response to the abnormal events or situations you have places make you feel scared and not Are you reckless in Are your thoughts experienced. want to go? behaviour or do you about revenge? take risks that could Have you trouble put you in danger? Do you feel numb? Although it can be hard to sleeping? Problems with self reach out and take that first Are you having Do you find yourself image troubled thoughts step, help, understanding and drawn to pictures or about life? objects that are Have you found support is available. about the event? concentrating Re-enactment of difficult? Trauma: Are you Do you repeating bringing aspects of the subject of the Play situations, the trauma into trauma in play? artwork or stories seem to be about the daily life? trauma (24) These are some more common symptoms and reactions to your next traumatic experience but be unable to stop it. Because of traumatic experiences…. this you may find you escape through dissociating, as if you are floating away to another place. This is a completely normal reaction to Is your heart beating faster and/or stronger? protect you although it might lead to some other problems in Do you have Tummy ache, constipation or diarrhoea? remembering and placing the event in time.(3) Do you feel clingy towards a trusted adult and/or distant from other adults? Sometimes, when something reminds us of the traumatic event, you Is there difficulty at school? might experience some of the Have you lost interest in your hobbies and/or going out? symptoms instantaneously, like an Do you want to be alone or not talk to people? instant reaction that feels out of Do you feel sad, angry, anxious or scared? Sometimes these control. This can be experienced as a feelings can seem very sudden and come out of nowhere. strong feeling of fear or anger for Thoughts can become confusing and negative which may feel example or it could come out in your scary but don’t worry this is normal; although it is important to body as a physical symptom like a tight chest or shortness of breath. tell someone you trust about them and not keep them inside. (21) Sometimes young children may lose skills they once had, such as toilet training. Or they might go back to Why are traumatic events so shocking? earlier habits, like sucking their thumb. They undermine our sense that life is fair, that life is reasonably safe If your PTSD is complex, you may also experience and is secure. The symptoms of PTSD are part of a normal reaction to deep feelings of anger, shame, guilt, disgust, self- (3) such events. Lots of children and young people feel they CAN’T talk blame, mistrust and hopelessness due to the or DON’T want to talk or think about what happened to them, but no trauma being repeated over a prolonged period. You may also foresee matter how hard they try, the memories pop into their minds anyway. How can trauma affect us and our brain? When trauma happens you might feel overwhelmed with terror. You can experience a prolonged state of alertness, stress or fear for your safety. You might begin to feel like you can’t cope but that’s because the brain does not know how to behave in these situations so it learns to adapt and build itself around these experiences. Your body manages new information and experiences without you even knowing it but when something out of the ordinary happens your way of coping can become overloaded. This overload can mean that the bad experiences remain frozen in your brain and don’t know where to go. Following a trauma, we might forget all the ‘BAD’ things that happened but the painful feelings like anxiety, panic, anger and despair are continually triggered and it feels as though the traumatic event is happening now. It changes the way your brain develops and how it should work. You can become affected in lots of different ways. You might have difficulty concentrating, solving problems, feel more sensitive, have difficulty remembering things and worrying. You can also have problems sleeping and become startled or jumpy. I hate getting flashbacks from things I don’t want to remember, so I let a grownup I trust know they are happening Your body, emotions and thoughts are all connected and talk to each other but after a trauma it’s normal to have nightmares and flashbacks of what happened. (11) (13) Attachment Attachment is an emotional feeling that binds you with the ‘primary caregiver’ this is usually your mother.