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>> It's not possible to shield them from the exposure to such a trauma but it is possible
to shield the response. What you can do is have them open up to you and ask questions
and discuss with them about what they experienced, what they feel like actually happened because
younger children can have a very different understanding of the event compared to older
children or adults. However, avoiding the question, avoiding the situation or avoiding
talking about it is never helpful. That can actually have a very detrimental effect. Younger
children say, for example, 2 to 6 years of age do not have a lot of understanding of
what's going on beyond their immediate world. They have what we call in psychiatry an egocentric
way of thinking. They feel like, you know, the world revolve around them, anything that
happens to them they feel like that's what's happen to the world. So, if they watch something
on TV and they feel like, you know, they're fearful or they're anxious about something
like that is gonna happen, they're unable to separate themselves from the real situation.
They also have magical thinking so reality and fantasy kind of keep getting mixed up.
So you have to be a lot more careful when you talk to that age children. As you grow
up 11 onwards, you have a little bit of concrete thinking, more logic developing, more reality
testing which becomes more apparent. So, a couple of things that you parents should remember
if the child is showing any behavior which is abnormal or different from their actual
personality, there is something concerning. Younger children can become very dependent.
They can become clingy, they can have grind spells, they can start to have nightmares
or can have soiling or accidents. So, all the children can have different behavior problems
like aggression, sometimes agitation, irritability. In certain cases, they can become very socially
isolated and they would like to--they would tend to avoid situations which can put them
in danger. Some teenagers actually go to opposite way and they can have highly impulsive behaviors.
You know, they can go into substance abuse disorders. They can start to become suicidal
or they can have a level of anxiety which is so much that they're unable to function
resulting in school refusal, dropping their grades, inability to see future as a positive
future. It becomes much more foreshortened and negative. So all these things are concerning
signs. If you feel like your child is going through any of these, it is very important
to seek help because the sooner you seek help the lesser the likelihood of actually developing
a full-blown psychiatric disorder. They can receive the therapy or work with medication
if it's necessary.