5 Myths about Childhood PTSD
For the longest time children were not thought to be able to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The traumatic events traditionally thought to cause PTSD were not believed to happen to children. There are many myths about how resilient they were or what made an event “traumatic.” All of these things impacted how adults thought of children. Myths continue about how if a child were tougher or stronger they would not be bothered by something that has happened in the past, or that that they would have “gotten over it.”
Myth#1 – Children don’t get PTSD
The people who first researched and wrote about post-traumatic stress disorder studied the effects of war on soldiers. It was known that they were exposed to a potentially traumatic event. Children were thought to be are low risk for post-traumatic stress disorder because the most common traumatic events that children are exposed to take place in secrecy and sometimes in the context of a child’s family. Domestic violence, physical abuse, parental substance abuse, and sexual abuse happen most often in secrecy.
For example, sexual abuse, an experience that is unfortunately true for 1 in 10 children before their 18 birthday is incredibly difficult to ‘prove’ but has a tremendous impact on children. The secret nature of child sexual abuse means that many times adults in a child’s life are seeing the impact of a trauma on a child without knowing what may be fueling some behaviors. Of course, children are in car accidents, suffer traumatic losses, and are victims of other violent crimes and these children are at risk to develop PTSD or a traumatic stress response as well.
Myth #2 – It happened so long ago they don’t remember it.
A child’s reluctance to put words to what has happened is often misinterpreted by adults as their inability to remember. Avoidance is one of the hallmark features of PTSD. It is a common reaction for children to try not to think about or express feelings about what happened. Just because kids and teens don’t talk about what happened, or they say they don’t remember doesn’t mean they aren’t experiencing traumatic stress reactions.
Myth #3 – Children are resilient
So this myth isn’t completely wrong. Children have amazing abilities to grow and adapt. What we know about how children’s brain grow, and develop is that brains develop over time, and at certain stages of childhood grow rapidly. This rapid brain growth is wonderful for children who are safe from violence and well nutured. Trauma has the unfortunate ability to disrupt normal child development. This traumatic stress is now known to effect brain development. Children who have experienced trauma are at higher risk for many mental health problems, like depression, anxiety and PTSD.
Myth #4 -After a while children just get over it.
The idea that children should just “get over” traumatic events shames children who can’t. Not everyone who experiences a traumatic event goes on to develop PTSD. A traumatic event is a subjective experience, and a series of risk and protective factors impact whether or children do develop PTSD. Some times there are long delays between experiencing a traumatic event, and developing PTSD. Many factors go into determining whether a not a child goes on to develop PTSD. These include: how old they are when the traumatic happened, how long or severe was it, was the child believed and protected, what sort of traumatic event happened, and whether or not the trauma happened in the context of a caregiving relationship..
Myth #5 -You shouldn’t bring it up, or dig too much into the past.
It is normal for parents to want their child to forget about the terrible thing that happened. In fact for some parents that is their litmus test of whether or not a child has healed from a traumatic event. What we know is that children who experience a traumatic even, often remember it. It can be more alarming when children deny remembering anything at all. Although depending how old a child was when something happened, and how long ago it happened it would be very normal to not remember all or parts of it. Some children as part of their avoidance in talking about what happened will say they don’t remember it.
In counseling for childhood PTSD talking about what happened is part of the process of making meaning of what happened, to desensitizing a child to trauma reminders, and to challenge unhelp beliefs a child might have about what happen. The stress that children with unresolved trauma have is tremendous. It is often at the forefront of their mind, often fuels troublesome behaviors.
Jeff LaPonsie LMSW
Jeff LaPonsie is a clinical social worker at Kalamazoo Child and Family Counseling, PLLC. He provides counseling to children and families in the Kalamazoo, Portage, Mattawan, and South West Michigan area. He is passionate about helping challenging children and frustrated parents. Jeff has over seven years of experience working with at risk youth. His clinical expertise includes working with children with behavioral, anxiety, attachment and trauma related disorders.