Many children and adolescents are exposed to different types of trauma, e.g. abuse or various disasters. Trauma can cause severe and long-term impairment and consequences, the most studied of which are post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and PTSD symptoms (PTSS). PTSD is highly prevalent in clinical practice (about 7%) and is a debilitating consequence of trauma. Of those children and adolescents exposed to trauma, about 16% will develop PTSD: almost 10% as a consequence of non-interpersonal traumatic events and 25% following interpersonal traumas. In this paper, we review predictors, assessment and treatment options for youth with PTSD (symptoms) and give directions for future research.
In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5), PTSD has been included in the new chapter on Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders and now also includes a subtype of PTSD for preschool children; this represents a significant step in DSM taxonomy as it is the first developmental subtype of a psychiatric disorder. More emphasis has been placed on behavioural changes, with new wording, and consequently the chances of diagnosing PTSD in this population have been enhanced three- to eight-fold.