National PTSD Awareness Day (June 27, 2012)

06/2012

To bring greater attention to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the United States Senate designated June 27th as National PTSD Awareness Day, now in its third year.

According to the National Center for PTSD, posttraumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder resulting from a traumatic event (including sexual and physical assault, serious accidents, natural disasters, and combat and military exposure) that is life-threatening to the individual and/or to others. Among the feelings the event can trigger are fear, confusion, and anger.

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) is proud to observe National PTSD Awareness Day, and offers the resources listed below to help educate individuals, families, professionals, policy makers, and communities about the significant impact that PTSD has on men, women, and children.
 

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Featured NCTSN Resources

NCTSN Service Systems Speakers Series: Creating Trauma-Informed Child-Serving Systems: Pediatric Health Care  
―A presentation by Nancy Kassam-Adams, PhD, on PTSD within the context of pediatric medical trauma.
Topics include the framework needed for a trauma-informed service system; relevance of traumatic stress for healthcare providers; prevalence, impact, risk factors, and mechanisms of pediatric medical trauma; opportunities for intervention to treat and prevent traumatic stress related to medical traumas; and training and resources available for heathcare providers.

NCTSN Terrorism, Disaster and Children Speaker Series: Treating Children After Disasters
Topics focus on assessing and treating PTSD in preschool children, school-aged children, and youth following a disaster. The presenters discuss developmental issues, parent issues, assessment, and treatment.

Understanding Child Traumatic Stress (2005) (PDF)
   >En Español: Entendamos el estrés traumático infantil (PDF)
This brochure condenses the material in Understanding Child Traumatic Stress webpage and presents it in an easily printable format. We live with dangers every day. As children and adolescents grow up, they continually learn about different types of dangers. We are always looking for ways to make our lives safer. However, traumatic experiences sometimes happen, both within and outside the family.

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For Children and Adolescents

American Psychological Association

  • Resilience for Teens: Got Bounce? (2011)
    Discusses ways to deal with problems from being bullied to the death of a friend or parent. Written for teens, the guide offers ten tips for building resilience.

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For Families and Communities

Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress

  • The Impact of Invisible Injuries:  Helping Your Family and Children [for Military Families] (PDF)
    Provides a list of signs and symptoms, typical in children who live in families with parental injury, which may indicate a need for professional assistance. Includes action steps families can take to help their children understand, manage, and cope with the parental injury, along with links to other resources.

National Center for PTSD
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Center for PTSD was created in 1989 by a congressional mandate to address the needs of veterans with military-related PTSD. The center’s mission is to “advance the clinical care and social welfare of America's veterans through research, education, and training in the science, diagnosis, and treatment of PTSD and stress-related disorders.”

  • PTSD in Children and Teens
    Includes an overview of how trauma affects school-aged children and teens, and information on treatments for PTSD in children.
  • The Epidemiology of Trauma and Trauma Related Disorders in Children and Youth (2008) (PDF)
    ―PTSD Research Quarterly, by John A. Fairbank, PhD (co-director of the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress).
    Reviews general population studies, disaster research, child maltreatment studies, and special population studies that report the prevalence of PTSD in children, adolescents, and young adults.
  • Treating PTSD and Related Symptoms in Children: Research Highlights (2008) (PDF)
    ―PTSD Research Quarterly, by Judith A. Cohen, PhD, of Allegheny General Hospital Center for Traumatic Stress in Children & Adolescents.
    Presents highlights from the [then] current literature on outcomes of treating PTSD in traumatized children. The issue also includes an article on the work of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (p. 8).
  • Understanding PTSD (PDF)
    Helps explain PTSD including its symptoms, along with effective treatments and suggestions on when and how to access help. Includes accounts from individuals who have received help for their PTSD and links to other resources including crisis assistance.
  • Very Young Trauma Survivors: The Role of Attachment
    Discusses rates of trauma-related problems in infants and young children, along with treatment options.

Sesame Street

  • Comforting Children in a Disaster (2011)
    Offers suggestions for helping children cope with the sudden stress that can occur during and/or after disasters. Includes ideas for what to say, how to overcome obstacles, how to increase children’s resilience, and when to call a professional. 

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA)

  • Coping with Traumatic Events
    Offers resources to first responders, health professionals, students, schools, parents, and the general public on coping with traumatic events, particularly mass trauma.

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For Mental Health and Victim Services Professionals

American Psychological Association

  • Children and Trauma: Update for Mental Health Professionals (2008) (PDF)
    Provides a brief overview of PTSD and trauma in children and adolescents, with information on how mental health professionals can help children, adolescents, and their families cope with and recover from trauma. Also offers links to other resources.

Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress

  • The Invisible Injuries of War: Impact on Military Families and Children [Fact Sheet for Providers] (PDF)
    Includes a list of signs and symptoms, typical in children who live in families with parental injury, which may indicate a need for professional assistance. Also offers action steps that healthcare providers can offer to families to help their children understand, manage, and cope with the parental injury.

National Center for PTSD

  • PILOTS [Published International Literature on Traumatic Stress] Database
    Electronic index to worldwide literature on PTSD and other mental-health consequences resulting from exposure to traumatic events. Access is free to the public.

National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence

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For Policy Makers

Children's Institute, Inc.

  • Fatherhood in Recovery: Fathers, Families and PTSD (PDF)
    Explains some of the consequences to the family when the father has PTSD including domestic violence and substance abuse. Includes information on how to recognize, understand, and cope with PTSD; and offers interventions that can make a difference in the lives of these families.

National Center for Child Traumatic Stress

National Child Trauma Stress Network

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