Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Child Abuse

Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and child abuse can sometimes go hand in hand. Many people associate PTSD with military combat, but that is only one of the many ways that PTSD can be created. Child abuse is another, only the symptoms of PTSD may not be as obvious due to the young age and the natural changes that occur in the personalities of children as they develop.

When an adult returns from combat, the signs of PTSD may be obvious to the people who know the individual, simply because they have a preconceived notion of what to expect from the individual's personality. When children change habits or seem to change personalities, it is seen as a part of development because the personality may not have enough longevity to be established. If the symptoms of PTSD in children who are or have been abused are overlooked, there are a variety of negative results that could happen.

The most primary concern is that the child is currently being abused and has developed PTSD as a result. This is dangerous because adults may not recognize the signs and the abuse will continue. Another issue is that the PTSD will actually get worse as the child gets older and cause an entire array of acute anxieties that could have been prevented if the PTSD was treated previous to the development of the other anxiety disorders.

Children who suffer from PTSD caused by child abuse have a variety if ways of developing symptoms. There may be flashbacks and nightmares. There will likely be signs to indicate the exact type of abuse. For instance, a child who is hit with a belt may actually go into tremors simply by seeing a belt. A child who is starved may hoard food or may tremble in fear over a meal if they have been abused for eating.

Sometimes the signs are a simple, unexplained, instinctive reaction. For instance, the slamming of a door may cause a child to become overly alert.

In short, the signs of PTSD in a child who suffers from some type of abuse are usually visible under simple and ordinary circumstances. These events trigger a response in the child that is dependent on the child's previous association with similar stimulus. For example, a child who has had candy scraped out of their mouth may show an aversion to candy that may seem abnormal and even fearful.

The bottom line is that PTSD in children who are or have been abused will cause a fearful response in the presence of inappropriate events. The child has learn to associate those events in the form of sights, sounds, smells, touches and tastes with something harmful. They literally have to have new memories to associate with these events before the PTSD can be overcome.

Reference: http://aacap.org/page.ww?name=Posttraumatic+Stress+Disorder+%28PTSD%29§ion=Facts+for+Families