Know About the Factors That Can Lead Your Children to PTSD

The term Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is not a term that any parent would like to be associated with their children however it doesn’t come down to choice for most people as PTSD is a condition that can affect children of different ages who went through different events with or without their caregiver’s notice.

Events like Sandy Hook shooting are examples of unpredictable happenings that can traumatize our children however it’s often not just related to that. That are many other cases related to parenting and social conditions that can also leave children traumatized. Amongst the general public, there is a lot of misconception related to what childhood PTSD really is and how are children affected by it. The worst of these are; that children don’t remember what happened when they were babies, newborns don’t feel pain and a fetus can’t experience trauma. However they are all untrue, and these ideas play vividly into the feelings of stress and trauma in kids. Some major factors that can create PTSD in children are as follows:

1. Medical Intrusion: Surgeries, procedures and treatment are all good for a child’s healthy future but for children understanding that idea is not easy and from their perspective it’s quite scary. The procedures hurt, the environment is unfamiliar and often not very attractive to children. Children who have gone through surgeries have horror stories and recollections where they speak of being made to lie down on hard beds, with glaring lights above them and people without faces (wearing masks) telling them “Just relax and it will all be okay”. Taking children through a procedure without letting them know what’s going to happen to them is not going to help them feel safe and can most likely be a cause for trauma.
2. Abuse: Any speech or a behavior of a parent that a child perceives as an abuse can be traumatic. These can be bullying by parents and a child’s peers, and other extreme examples of abuse like sexual, emotional, physical or mental. Effects of abuse on children can be very harmful and it may result in depression, a lack of self-esteem, distrust of other people especially adults and rebellious behavior.
3. Neglect: Many children are raised without parents being around like orphans or without proper care and attention given to them by their parents. Children who are neglected may develop radical attachment disorder (RAD) and this can be formed as early as in infancy. In this condition the children were unable to find any caregiver whom they could form attachment with which results in them not being able to have loving normal relationships with other people. Such neglect can also be cause of PTSD.
4. Disasters: Any event where a child feels that he and the adult around him is helpless and in danger can cause trauma to him. It could be a natural disaster, a house fire, a building collapse or any similar event.
5. Violent acts: Violent acts can be even worse in inflicting trauma to our young ones than a natural disaster. Sandy Hook shooting, war, gang violence, seeing a parent being abused in front of them or kidnapping can all be very traumatic.
6. Accidents: These include vehicle accidents, playground accidents, or accidents inside the home, outdoors, at a farm or while playing sports.
7. Divorce: The end of a marriage or a long-term relationship between parents and their partners can be much more traumatic to a child than their parents may realize. For a child, parents are the epitome of a perfect everything. The animosity between the parents can cause children to feel hurt and depending on the age of the child they can become aggressive and out of control or meek and scared. One of the effects of divorce includes the preconceived notion, which many children adopt, that romantic relationships are doomed from the very beginning.

Other than these, the death of a loved one important to a child’s security, moving to a new place and adoption can also cause trauma in children. However, trauma does not always mean that the child has PTSD. When the effects of a trauma are short lived, as in within three months, that means that a child has not developed PTSD. However when the symptoms of trauma are around for longer than that, then you should pay attention to your child’s mental wellbeing. Be it’s a child’s fear of the doctor or their inability to make friends at a new place after months of moving, whatever the problem may be by keeping in mind these factors that can cause trauma to children you can understand your child better and help them out of their misery.

Christine Rudolph, an enthusiastic dreamer and a workaholic to achieve that. Jack of All sometimes, wants to do everything. I am blogger, writer, state level badminton player, technology freak and above all a responsible citizen wanting to save the environment even on her own. For all the updates follow me @RudolphBlogger and become friend’s @Facebook“