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Trauma Among Teens
Introduction
After a traumatic event, teens often suffer panic attacks. Your teen can be overwhelmed by an invisible onslaught of fear and terror.
You can rest assured that at Skooc, you and your family are in good hands.
Symptoms
Keep a lookout for some of the following signs of trauma in your teenager:
Fear and Trepidation – Feeling that something bad is going to happen again and worrying that the effects will never go away.
Worry and Anxiety – Feeling nervous and overwhelmed in everyday situations.
Avoidance Reaction – Active avoidance of people, places, and things associated with a traumatic event.
Uncontrollable Rage and Angry Outbursts – Aggressive, angry behaviour that can include screaming or threats of physical violence.
Overwhelming Shame and Paralyzing Guilt – often blaming themselves, leading to shame and embarrassment
Extended Grief and Bouts of Depression, Numbing Out and Feeling Nothing – withdraw and isolate, communication becomes monotone
Extreme Disruption of Sleep Patterns -nightmares are common, leading to ongoing feelings of exhaustion and bouts of insomnia.
Night Terrors – wake up drenched in sweat. Often, they are cold and shaking.
If you notice recurring instances of a few of these symptoms in your teenager, we at Skooc recommend a formal evaluation.
Diagnosis
At Skooc, we help you better understand what you and your teenager are going through. For the diagnosis of PTSD, the teenager must show at least one re-experiencing symptom, two increased arousal symptoms, and three avoidance or numbing symptoms. Several symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder make it harder to distinguish from other mental disorders.
However, when these signs are noticed in a teenager, they are taken to a health facility for assessment, evaluation, and treatment by a health professional. Treatment for trauma by health professionals may vary depending on the assessment, evaluation, and recommendation of the professional therapist.
Click here to take an assessment.
Next Steps and Intervention
Our team of professional psychologists at Skooc can help you and your family by providing the necessary interventions. Treatment plans can include a combination of different therapeutic methods, which can help to ensure that all of the nuanced needs of the teen are properly addressed. Some of the therapy options that could be integrated into a teen treatment plan can include any combination of the following:
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR): This utilizes guided eye movement techniques to help a teen process his or her memories, thoughts and emotional associations in relation to the experienced trauma
Creative arts therapy (play therapy, art therapy, music therapy, drama therapy, sand therapy, etc.): this can provide the young person with a different medium to express, process and integrate his or her thoughts and feelings surrounding trauma
Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT): this can help correct irrational and/ or inaccurate thoughts a young person may have regarding the trauma, as well as help him or her develop skills and healthy coping mechanisms for reducing anxiety and stress
Group therapy: participating in group therapy sessions can help a young person learn from peers that are navigating thoughts and emotions related to trauma.
Developmental Assesments, Therapy and Counselling Sessions at Narayana Clinic, Sarjapura Road, Bengaluru.
