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Assessment and Management of Pediatric Iatrogenic Medical Trauma

  • Child and Adolescent Disorders (TD Benton, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Medically ill children are often exposed to traumatizing situations within the medical setting. Approximately 25-30 % of medically ill children develop posttraumatic stress symptoms and 10-20 % of them meet criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder. Parents of medically ill children are at even higher risk for posttraumatic stress symptoms. Most children and parents will experience resolution of mild trauma symptoms without formal psychological or psychiatric treatment. Posttraumatic stress symptoms are associated with medical nonadherence, psychiatric co-morbidities, and poorer health status. Therefore, evidenced-based trauma-focused treatment is indicated for those who remain highly distressed or impaired. This paper reviews approaches to the assessment and management of pediatric iatrogenic medical trauma within a family-based framework.

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Disclosure

M. Forgey: grants/research support from National Institutes of Health (NIH), UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, UCLA Integrated Mood Disorders Center, and compensation for travel/accommodations/meeting expenses from American Psychiatric Association and California Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; B. Bursch: research support from NIH/National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, consultant to Los Angeles Superior Court Juvenile Mental Health Court, and compensation for expert testimony from Arizona Department of Economic Security and Los Angeles County.

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  1. Division of Child Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 760 Westwood Plaza, 58-242C, Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA

    Marcy Forgey

  2. Division of Child Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Department of Pediatrics, UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 760 Westwood Plaza, 48-253C, Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA

    Brenda Bursch

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Correspondence to Marcy Forgey.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Child and Adolescent Disorders

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Forgey, M., Bursch, B. Assessment and Management of Pediatric Iatrogenic Medical Trauma. Curr Psychiatry Rep 15, 340 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-012-0340-5

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