POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER

• The person has been exposed to a traumatic event that includes both of the following:

  • The person has experienced actual or threatened death, serious injury, or injury to himself or herself. He/she has experienced, witnessed, or been confronted with a threat to the physical integrity of others.

  • The person's reactions include extreme fear, helplessness, or terror. NOTE: Children may express their reactions with disorganized or agitated behavior instead.

• The traumatic event is one of the following ( or more) are constantly relived through:

  • Distressing memories of the event that are involuntarily recalled; among these are fantasies, thoughts or perceptions. NOTE: Young children may play games about themselves or different aspects of themselves over and over again.

  • Frequent, distressing dreaming of the event. NOTE: Children may have scary dreams without fully understanding their content.

  • Behaving or feeling as if the traumatic event is happening again (even if it occurs while waking up or while drunk) It includes the feeling of reliving, illusions, hallucinations and dissociative 'flashback' episodes).

  • Encountering internal or external events that evoke or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event Feeling intense psychological distress upon it.

  • Physiological reaction upon encountering internal or external events that evoke or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event.

• Persistent avoidance of stimuli accompanying the trauma and decreased level of general reactivity, as indicated by the presence of three (or more) of the following (not present before the trauma) .

  • Efforts to avoid the emotions, thoughts, or conversations that accompanied the trauma.

  • Awakening memories of the trauma Efforts to stay away from activities, places, or people.

  • An important aspect of the trauma inability to remember.

  • Marked decrease in interest in or participation in important activities.

  • Feelings of alienation from or alienation from people.

  • Limitation in affect (e.g. not being able to experience the feeling of loving).

  • Feeling like there is no future (e.g. not expecting to have a career, marriage, children or a normal life course).

• Persistent symptoms of increased arousal, as evidenced by two (or more) of the following:

  • Difficulty falling or staying asleep.

  • Irritability or outbursts of anger.

  • Difficulty concentrating thoughts on a particular subject.

  • Hypervigilance.

  • Excessive startle response.

• This disorder (Symptoms in criteria B, C, and D)last longer than one month.

• This disorder causes clinically significant distress or in social, occupational, or It also causes deterioration in other important areas of functionality.

Specify, if any:

• Acute (symptoms If lasting less than 3 months),
• Chronic (symptoms lasting 3 months or more),
• Delayed onset ( If the symptoms started at least 6 months after the stressor)

It is recommended to get help.

Some of the traumatic experiences that children face during war periods are listed below:

• Violent death of parents

• Witnessing the murder of close family members

• Separation and displacement

• Terrorist attacks, abduction, threat to life

• Participation in violent acts

• Being under bombardment

• Witnessing parents' fear reactions

• Physical injuries and mutilations

• Extreme poverty and hunger

POST-TRAUMATIC REACTIONS:

Unique to each age, cognitive, emotional or social The skills gained in the field will affect the child's reaction to trauma.

PRESCHOOL CHILDREN (0-6 YEARS): They are dependent on adults for their care and protection. When faced with a threatening situation, they are helpless and passive, feeling defenseless. They may remain quiet and withdrawn. Silence does not mean they have forgotten the incident. Therefore, they need the support of adults to eliminate the threatening situation. After a while, the event is reflected in their games and they re-enact the event in their games

Children under the age of four may react to the trauma with anxious attachment behavior, often clinging to their parents, being afraid to sleep, acting regressive, and becoming irritable when left alone. Sleep problems and nightmares are common. Their tolerance for sadness is limited, so they use many forms of denial to relieve the pain.

SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN (6-12 YEARS): Trauma They can use a broader repertoire of cognitive, emotional and behavioral responses in coping with anxiety.

_{Read: 0}