Tag Archives: PTSD

Sleep difficulties in children exposed to trauma

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In 2012, the blog weekly features a summary or discussion of a recent scientific article on traumatic stress in children.

This week a summary of Hall Brown et al. (Oct 2011) on sleep in children after Hurricane Katrina.

 

In childhood it is normal to have some nighttime fears. Most children outgrow them. However, when fears continue to exist, they endanger sleep quality and daily functioning. One situation in which this may happen, is after traumatic exposure.

We know that adult mental health problems and sleep difficulties are related after trauma but we have only very limited data on children. Therefore, Hall Brown and colleagues studied the role of sleep problems in the maintenance of posttraumatic stress symptoms in youths who experienced Hurricane Katrina. Continue reading →

Trauma and PTSD experts on Twitter

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Are you looking for experts on traumatic stress, PTSD, or trauma recovery on Twitter? Below is a list of active ‘twexperts’ who are members of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) or affiliated national societies. To follow the whole list at once, including a few less active members, see this link.

 

 

 

Hopefully, more and more ISTSS members will become enthusiastic social media users soon. Twitter is a fantastic platform for making connections, brainstorming, and sharing information. Would you like to start with Twitter? Find some good advice here (Twitter’s tips) and here (LSE Impact Blog’s tips).

Experts who have tweeted at least once in the past two months, with their Twitter bio: Continue reading →

Does intervening early after trauma help children recover?

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In 2012, the blog weekly features a summary or discussion of a recent scientific article on traumatic stress in children. This week: Kramer & Landolt (Dec 2011) about early interventions.

When children are exposed to a single traumatic event such as a car accident, a violent incident, or a disaster, many of them will recover naturally. However, a significant minority has difficulty getting back on track: 10 to 30% of the exposed children develop chronic symptoms, including Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Can we intervene early to help children recover? Systematic reviews on the efficacy of early single interventions in adults have shown either no or even harmful effects so far. In particular psychological debriefing, where survivors are asked to ventilate their emotions, cause concerns. For example, Rose et al. (2009) concluded in their meta-analysis that compulsory psychological debriefing of adults should cease.   Continue reading →

Does physical activity make a difference?

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When looking at trauma recovery in children, we tend to search for solutions in the domain of therapy: cognitive behavioral therapy, EMDR, pharmacotherapy and the like. However, we may also be able to help in other ways. Continue reading →

Highlights of the ISTSS conference in Baltimore

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Last week’s conference of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Society was a success. A lively conference with a number of excellent and thought-provoking presentations, where some insights kept on popping up. For me, the highlights of the conference with regard to children and youth all related to interventions:

New, large studies on early interventions

Researchers from Switzerland and Australia presented the outline of large, rigorous studies to measure the effect of early interventions for children who have been accidentally injured. These studies will lead to insights into the effectiveness of a short intervention and a longer one. Continue reading →