Assessing Child and Adolescent Complex Traumatic Stress Reactions

Abstract

Children and adolescents exposed to traumatic stressors may develop severe and persistent complex traumatic stress reactions. A framework for conceptualizing and assessing children's and adolescents' complex traumatic stress reactions as forms of impaired self-regulation is described. Psychometric measures for the assessment of posttraumatic dysregulation of emotion, cognition, behavior, and bodily functioning are also described. The question of whether children and adolescents who are experiencing complex traumatic stress reactions would benefit from the establishment of a distinct syndrome and psychiatric diagnosis is discussed in light of recent findings suggesting that existing psychiatric diagnoses do not fully account for the impairment suffered by such youth.

Keywords:

• child
• adolescent
• traumatic stress
• assessment
• diagnosis