Posttraumatic Child Therapy (P-TCT): Assessment and Treatment Factors in Clinical Work With Inner-City Children Exposed to Catastrophic Community Violence

• NCJ Number: 174336
• Journal: Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 12 Issue: 2 Dated: April 1997 Pages: 172-194
• Author(s): E R Parson
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 23 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article discusses the psychological responses of many children and adolescents to witnessing violence, and an integrative therapy model of care called "posttraumatic child therapy."

Abstract

The article examines the adverse health effects of political terror and community violence on the minds and bodies of children, posttraumatic symptoms and responses to violence, a prescribed assessment process, and a model of intervention called "posttraumatic child therapy (P-TCT)." Posttraumatic assessment of children victimized by political or community violence is a critical dimension of clinical treatment. The article discusses P-TCT as a system of care and therapy, incorporating into its methods cognitive, behavioral and psychodynamic procedures. This treatment approach includes behavioral traumatic stress management; techniques to alter the child's cognitive theories of self, trauma, and world; and the careful timing of the use of transference work to help repair the rupture in the fabric of the child's attachment capabilities. References