Interventions

Treatment options for children and adolescent trauma survivors can include cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and crisis management to reduce anxiety, worry, and fear of repeated trauma. Play therapy is an effective method often used with young children with posttraumatic stress disorder because they often have difficulty dealing with trauma directly. Cases in which a child or adolescent is acting out sexually in response to a sexual trauma or in which he or she may be using drugs or alcohol as a coping mechanism as a result of trauma often require additional treatment modalities.

For this Assignment, review the media program Trauma and consider the symptomology of PTSD and how trauma can affect children and adolescents. Then, select a different type of childhood or adolescent trauma from the one you selected for the Discussion. Consider the posttraumatic stress symptoms that are likely to occur and what type of treatment interventions you might use to treat the child or adolescent. Also, think about how you might support or educate parents or guardians as they attempt to support their child or adolescent.

The Assignment (2–3 pages):

· Describe a major trauma or event that may occur to children and/or adolescents.

· Describe three potential symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder that may occur as a result of the major trauma or event, and explain why these symptoms may occur.

· Describe one intervention you might use in treating this type of trauma. Justify the selection of your intervention using the week’s resources and current literature.

· Explain two ways you might educate or support the parents/guardians as they help their child or adolescent through the trauma. Be specific.

Discussion – Week 6

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A traumatic event I chose for this discussion is war. War has acute and lasting effects which often in refugee migration.  According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR, 2016b), there are close to 14 million refugees worldwide as the level of human displacement has increased by 50% since 2011. Like the case of the Syrian war, individuals across the board are prone to posttraumatic stress disorder. The article explores the mental health needs of refugees, with a focus on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), finding that refugees appear especially susceptible to PTSD and PTSD symptoms, especially women and children (Ghumman, McCord, & Chang, 2016). They also assert that most agencies and organizations concentrate on providing necessities such as food, clothing and shelter to refugees with little attention paid on mental health.

Individuals including children and adolescents who this experience suffer from PTSD  symptoms in each of the following areas: intrusion symptoms such as repetitive intrusive memories, nightmares or flashbacks; avoidance of people, places, emotions, or thoughts associated with the trauma; and alterations in arousal such as hypervigilance, irritability, and reckless behavior. Children and adolescents may also feel emotionally numb or lose interest in activities they previously found enjoyable, develop disruptive behaviors, unable to speak, be unusually clingy with parents and it is not uncommon for children to event start bedwetting after such a traumatic event (Ghumman, McCord, & Chang, 2016). The reasons children and adolescents are susceptible to PTSD is because of the chaotic conditions and experiences they go through and the fact that many of them are separated from their parents or caregivers add up to their psychological challenges. For instance, an adolescent refugee who grows up in violence, uncertainty, experiencing the trauma of having loss love ones, and attempting to create a future in a strange environment will experience PTSD.

One way I may be affected working with refugee children or adolescents who have experienced war is be empathetic and show them warmth as I work with them especially as many of them often have linguistic and cultural challenges.  Trouble speaking English and cultural barriers transcend every aspect of life for refugees and immigrants and constitute a considerable barrier between refugees and host country mental health professionals (Ellis et al., 2011).

References

Ellis, B. H., Miller, A. B., Baldwin, H., & Abdi, S. (2011). New directions in refugee-youth mental health services: Overcoming barriers to engagement. Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, 4, 69 – 85. http://dx.doi .org/10.1080/19361521.2011.545047

(4), 246–253. Retrieved from the Walden LibraryCanadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne, 57Ghumman, U., McCord, C. E., & Chang, J. E. (2016). Posttraumatic stress disorder in Syrian refugees: A review.

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