A new study has demonstrated how a specific form of therapy can help improve symptoms in children living with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a mental health condition that develops after witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event.
Researchers from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, have examined the effectiveness of Cognitive behavioral therapy centered on trauma (TCC) to treat young children who have undergone abuse, violence or serious accidents.
TCC is a treatment for mental health conditions that helps people identify any negative thinking that they may have and teaches self -help strategies to challenge and reduce these useless thought patterns.
According to him World Health OrganizationApproximately 3.9% of the world’s population has experienced PTSD at some point in their life. Although trauma centered TCC is already used to help treat adult disorder, children who experience multiple traumas are often considered more difficult to treat.
“Recent research has shown that more than 7% of young people In the United Kingdom he will have developed Tept at some time at the age of 18, ”says Richard Meiser-Stedman, principal researcher at the East Anglia University, the United Kingdom.
Researchers expect their study, one of the first and greatest to prove the focus on children, provide crucial support to some of the most vulnerable young people in the community.
“The PTSD is a deeply distressing and disabling psychiatric condition,” says Meiser-Stedman.
“For many young people, you can persist for years or even decades if not.”
The researchers selected 120 children and adolescents aged 8 to 17 who were looking for mental health services throughout the United Kingdom after experiencing multiple traumas to be part of the study. Many of the participants were also experiencing other mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety.
Half of these participants received the standard treatment that is currently offered in mental health services, while the others received TCC centered on trauma. Throughout the trial, the participants were suggested to attend TCC to attend 15 sessions that lasted 60 to 90 minutes each.
“We wanted to find out if the TCC centered on trauma, which concentrates on helping young people to make sense of their experiences, could help,” says Meiser-Stedman.
The researchers observed that immediately after therapy, the TCC centered on the trauma was not dramatically better than the typical treatment.
However, after 11 months of therapy, participants who received trauma centered therapy showed significantly higher improvements not only in PTSD symptoms, but also depression, anxiety and regulated emotions.
“These findings are really encouraging,” says Meiser-Stedman.
“They suggest that trauma -centered therapy can be an effective and safe treatment for young people who have gone through more than a trauma, especially when they also have other mental health problems.”
Very few young people left therapy and, despite the fact that many of the participants experienced very serious symptoms, the researchers did not observe serious side effects. The results give researchers the hope that a TCC treatment with a broader scale trauma can function effectively in community environments.
“It also worked in real world clinics, not only in controlled research environments, so it is likely to help in everyday practice,” says Meiser-Stedman.
“We hope that our work influences how the PTSD is treated in young people throughout the United Kingdom and beyond, particularly those who have experienced a long -term repeated trauma.”
He study has been published in the magazine World psychiatry.
If you or someone you know needs support, you can communicate with: Lifeline 13 11 14 Beyond Blue 1300 22 46 36 Kids Lypline 1800 551 800 Headspace 1800 650 890 (in Australia)
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