Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Kids and trauma

A new study from China has inspired a wave of headlines like this one:

Dog bites can leave kids with emotional scars too

It's kind of obvious, but yes, traumatic events can cause PTSD, even if they're not combat-related.

According to the study, 19 out of 358 kids who experienced animal bites serious enough to require hospital treatment later showed signs of PTSD. That's about 5%. But 38 of those cases required serious hospitalization, and 10 of those kids were among the 19 who developed PTSD. That's closer to 25% for really serious attacks.

Here's the important factor that didn't make it into the headlines:
...the injury itself might not be the only thing that influences whether a kid gets PTSD - the care the kid gets afterward can play a role too.

"It's every important what happens in that ER, and how doctors and nurses respond," she told Reuters Health. This study, she said, "certainly speaks to the need to attend to the psychological impact of these kids of injuries."
Read more at the link above.

No comments:

Post a Comment