Children and adolescents may witness or experience events that are traumatic for them or for people close to them. These may involve a serious threat to life, such as accidents, severe injuries, assault, or the loss of someone close, such as a caregiver. This can lead toacute stress or acute distress, which is a natural reaction. Acute distress usually begins immediately after the traumatic event and lasts from three days to one month after the event.

What is psychological trauma?

Psychological trauma refers to experiencing a pivotal event or situation that a person did not have the ability or resources to handle or respond to. As a result, they may be unable to move past it, and it becomes a source of psychological pressure because they think about it repeatedly and cannot ignore or cope with it. Situations or events that place a psychological burden on someone may arise from a disaster that leaves the person witnessing it feeling afraid or helpless.

Symptoms of psychological trauma in children and adolescents:

Symptoms may appear in a child or adolescent immediately after the traumatic event and may include the following:

  1. Sleep disturbances.
  2. Disturbing dreams.
  3. Becoming intensely attached to close family members, such as a mother or father, and fearing separation from them.
  4. Refusing to go to nursery or school.
  5. Bed-wetting.
  6. Irritability and a short temper.
  7. Physical symptoms such as headaches and stomach pain, and sometimes hyperactivity and difficulty concentrating.

These are natural responses to a traumatic event. With support and understanding from others, the child or adolescent will usually move through the crisis.

How to respond to psychological trauma in children and adolescents:

What can we do to help children and adolescents move through psychological trauma?

  1. Normalize their feelings:Tell the child or adolescent that it is natural to feel upset when something frightening happens, and encourage them to express their fears without judging their thoughts.
  2. Provide protection:If possible, try to protect the child from being exposed to further psychologically traumatic events.
  3. Maintain a routine:Keep everyday life as stable as possible by maintaining routines and continuing usual daily activities whenever possible.
  4. Support the child:Help them work through negative feelings, and reassure them that what happened was not their fault and that the adults will take care of them.
  5. Be understanding and compassionate:Allow the child to feel sad or cry, and do not try to stop them from expressing their fears and feelings.
  6. Give the child or adolescent a sense of control and choice:Offer several reasonable choices about daily activities, such as choosing meals, clothes, and bedtime.
  7. Be patient:Do not criticize or become angry if the child or adolescent displays regressive or unusual behaviors, such as bed-wetting or thumb-sucking.
  8. Be mindful of your own reactions:Take care not to become excessive in protecting or indulging the child. Do not use the situation as a reason to let an adolescent take control, relieve them of previous responsibilities, or grant them unjustified privileges.

If the symptoms continue for longer than a month, for example, it becomes necessary toseek a specialist psychological consultationto help the parents and the child or adolescent manage these symptoms, because at this point the child or adolescent has entered another phase: post-traumatic stress disorder.

Treating psychological trauma in children and adolescents:

Cognitive behavioral therapy is an important cornerstone in helping a child move through psychological trauma. It aims to help the child avoid ignoring the situation that caused the trauma and instead recognize and face it. The child can be encouraged to express their feelings about the traumatic situation through drawing or writing. Relaxation and deep-breathing exercises can also help reduce muscle tension in the body and ease stress in children.