PTSD and children

Dr. Victor Carrion, and the senior author, Dr. Allan Reiss had conducted research on PTSD and children. Their findings revealed that children who have suffered from post-traumatic stress are likely to have poor recall of memory. They beleive the part of the brain associated with memories, the hippocampus may shrink. This could be one of the reasons for forgetting parts.

Here are the symptoms reported for children with damage to the hippocampus:

a.) experience avoidance
b.) having difficulty remembering the trauma
c.) feeling isolated; and
d.) not displaying emotion.


An improvement in the hippocampus could indicate that treatment is being successful.

Here are some tips for recreational therapists:

• teaching ways to cope with feelings of isolation
• teach social skills needed to build a social support system
• allow expression through the use of play

I, Danny Pettry, have a violence prevention progrma for children. It had posters, which allows the children to point out facial expressions in order to help them understand how others people could feel. They also have a story with the poster. Children can point out clues from the story to tell how a character could be feeling. I have the children practice facial expressions: An example: a.) show your best smile; b.) show your sad face; c.) show your angry face.

Based on my experiences, some of the children who have experienced PTSD have flat facial expressions. They don't smile when nice things happen.

Source:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/12/09/ptsd.brain.kids.memory/index.html