NCJ Number
144365
Date Published
1993
Length
238 pages
Annotation
Written by a child psychologist, this book contains guidance for parents of children who are traumatized by disasters, accidents, or violence and attempts to depict the meaning of trauma in children's lives.
Abstract
The book's first chapter explains psychological trauma from the child's point of view, a perspective that children need their parents to understand. In the second chapter, various experiences of childhood trauma are briefly described to help parents draw a line in their own minds between stress and trauma. Signs of trauma in children's behavior are reviewed in the third chapter to help parents recognize and understand short-term and long-term effects of trauma on children. In the fourth chapter, parents may find some beginning answers to their questions about why individual children have such different reactions to traumatic events and factors that influence children's reactions. The final three chapters deal with the various ways a child's trauma can affect the lives of all family members, concrete and practical ways parents can help children cope with trauma and heal, and guidelines on when to worry about children's reactions to trauma. The book addresses a wide variety of single-incident traumas and also considers cumulative traumas such as child abuse. The author examines the complications of trauma and provides guidance on when professional help, such as psychotherapy, is needed. References, notes, and tables