Health: Violent Aftershocks

Children are particularly vulnerable to post-traumatic stress disorder

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is usually associated with grownup veterans of wars or terrorist attacks, but doctors have known for some time that children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable to the long-term psychological scarring that can follow a close encounter with extreme violence. In that respect, there was news both bad and good last week about PTSD and children. The bad news is that the incidence of PTSD in children is higher in the U.S. than we might have expected. The good news is that effective techniques have been developed to identify--and treat--those who are most at risk.

First, the...

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