Assessing and Treating Youth Exposed to Traumatic Stress: A Comprehensive Guide

Written by Victor G. Carrin, “Assessing and Treating Youth Exposed to Traumatic Stress” is a vital resource for mental health clinicians, teachers, and caregivers who support traumatized youth. This book provides a comprehensive response to the reality of children living in constant fear, threat, and confusion, often lacking positive social interactions, stimulation, and empowerment.

Identifying and Assessing Traumatized Youth

The first step in helping these children is identification, and the book emphasizes the importance of careful assessment through clinical interviews in individual and group settings. The population with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is highly diverse in terms of presentation, target symptoms, and individual factors, including type, duration, and accumulation of trauma, age of insult, stress vulnerability, family history, and more.

Treatment Options and Preventive Measures

The book presents nearly a dozen treatment options, distinguished by setting (clinic, home, or school) and modality (psychotherapy or pharmacology). It also explores preventive measures, primarily school- or group-based, to increase resiliency in youth. These measures are crucial in addressing the critical issues surrounding comorbidities, such as mood and anxiety disorders, which often co-occur with PTSD.

Developmental Approach and Special Considerations

The book takes a developmental approach, illustrating how treatment techniques are applied to preschoolers, school-age children, adolescents, and transitional-age youth. It highlights the special sensitivity and careful questioning necessary when working with preschool children, who require a separate posttraumatic diagnosis and nuanced assessment due to their limited vocabulary and concrete thinking.

Pharmacological Treatment and School-Based Interventions

While psychosocial treatments are the primary approach, the book acknowledges the role of pharmacological treatment in certain cases. A dedicated chapter explores the use of medications in treating youth with PTSD symptoms. The chapters on school-based assessment and interventions provide information on screening, disaster prevention, response, and recovery programs, and evidence-based targeted trauma interventions across developmental levels.

Expert Contributors and a Call to Action

The editor, Director of the Stanford University Early Life Stress Research Program in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, has assembled a list of contributors who are at the forefront of clinical research in this critical area. The book reflects the authors’ belief that society must ensure children who face adversity have the opportunity to develop to their full potential. In today’s era of mass shootings and natural disasters, effective interventions for large groups of young people are more necessary than ever.

Get access to this vital resource and join the effort to support traumatized youth in their journey towards healing and empowerment.