Causes of PTSD & C-PTSD in children and young adults
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is condition that some people develop after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. It’s estimated that around 20% of people who experience a trauma go on to develop PTSD (so around 1 in 10 people at some point in their lives).
Studies show a prevalence of PTSD in children ranging from around 6-10%, with the most commonly reported traumatic experiences being ‘witnessing injury to or death of others, hearing news of other’s sudden death or accident, and personally experiencing a sudden injury or accident’.
The defining characteristic of a traumatic event is its capacity to cause fear, helplessness, or horror as a response to the threat of injury or death, and therefore can affect anyone. Some examples of traumatic events include (please note this list is NOT exhaustive):
- Road traffic incidents
- Being told you have a life-threatening illness
- Bereavement
- Any form of abuse, including Childhood Abuse
- Natural disasters such as flooding or an earthquake
- Being kidnapped or held hostage
- Being bullied
- Refugee and asylum seekers
What causes PTSD?
PTSD is essentially a memory filing error caused by a traumatic event. When you experience something really traumatic your body suspends ‘normal operations’ and so temporarily shuts down some bodily functions such as digestion, skin repair and crucially, memory processing.
During trauma, your brain thinks ‘processing and understanding what is going on right now is not important! Getting your legs ready to run, your heart rate up, and your arms ready to fight this danger is what’s important right now, I’ll get back to the processing later.’
As such, until the danger passes, the mind does not produce a memory for this traumatic event in the normal way. So, when your brain eventually does go back to try to process the trauma, and the mind presents the situation as a memory for filing, if finds it ‘does not exist’ in your memory yet, so it sees it as a situation in the current timeline, and so it can be very distressing.
The distress comes from the fact that the brain is unable to recognise this as a ‘memory’, because it hasn’t been processed as one. As such, the facts of what happened, the emotions associated with the trauma and the sensations touch, taste, sound, vision, movement, and smell can be presented by the mind in the form of flashbacks – as if they are happening right now. The distress during the traumatic event, and this continued distress is what causes that changes in the brain, and the subsequent symptoms of PTSD.
Complex PTSD
There is a second, subtype of PTSD, called Complex PTSD, or C-PTSD. This is usually a result of repeated, or sustained traumas, and presents in a similar way to PTSD, but with some additional symptoms too. Any of the causes noted above (and many others) can cause C-PTSD if they have been experienced repeatedly, or if someone has experience a number of different traumas. You can find out more about C-PTSD in children and young adults specifically here.
-
- Why is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder so topical?
- Sayed, S., Iacoviello, B.M. & Charney, D.S. Risk Factors for the Development of Psychopathology Following Trauma. Curr Psychiatry Rep 17, 70 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-015-0612-y
- Sareen J. (2014). Posttraumatic stress disorder in adults: impact, comorbidity, risk factors, and treatment. Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie, 59(9), 460–467. https://doi.org/10.1177/070674371405900902
Symptoms of PTSD in children
Treatments for PTSD in children
Hello! Did you find this information useful?
Please consider supporting PTSD UK with a donation to enable us to provide more information & resources to help us to support everyone affected by PTSD, no matter the trauma that caused it
PTSD UK Blog
You’ll find up-to-date news, research and information here along with some great tips to ease your PTSD in our blog.
Dealing with PTSD over the holidays
Dealing with PTSD over the holidays Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can cause a whole host of symptoms, which can affect every area of your life, and when this is paired with ‘expectations’ of how you should feel, it can become
My PTSD ‘toolbox’
My PTSD ‘toolbox’ During her life, Imogen Cauthery has experienced a number of traumas and resulting PTSD. Over time, despite some co-morbid conditions such as epilepsy and bulimia, Imogen has developed a ‘PTSD toolbox’ – a variety of therapies and
Mental Wellbeing at work guidance
Mental Wellbeing at work guidance NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) have recently updated their Mental Wellbeing at work guidance. This guideline covers how to create the right conditions for mental wellbeing at work. It aims to promote
Castle2Cosford: Chris’ 300-Mile Walk for Two Trauma Charities
Castle2Cosford: Chris’ 300-Mile Walk for Two Trauma Charities Former police officer, Chris Devney from Worcestershire, prepares to walk more than 300 miles in just 13 days to raise vital funds in aid of PTSD UK and Midlands Air Ambulance Charity,
XMiles supporting Team PTSD UK
XMiles supporting Team PTSD UK We’re honoured to be sponsored by XMiles to help our fundraising supporters who are part of Team PTSD UK taking on challenges in 2022! XMiles is an Independent Endurance Sports Store, providing nutritional goods to
Self injury, self harm and PTSD
Self injury, self harm and PTSD There is growing evidence showing a link between post-traumatic stress disorder, and what is collectively known as self-injurious behaviours (SIB). This article explores this highly sensitive topic and contains triggers. So, we recommend proceeding
PTSD UK Supporters Store
Treatments for PTSD
It is possible for PTSD to be successfully treated many years after the traumatic event occurred, which means it is never too late to seek help. For some, the first step may be watchful waiting, then exploring therapeutic options such as individual or group therapy – but the main treatment options in the UK are psychological treatments such as Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprogramming (EMDR) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).
Traumatic events can be very difficult to come to terms with, but confronting and understanding your feelings and seeking professional help is often the only way of effectively treating PTSD. You can find out more in the links below, or here.