PTSD in Children

There has been a growing literature on the subject of PTSD in children. The literature consistently points to children’s vulnerability to the de­velopment of PTSD after severe trauma. In earlier work, such as the evaluation of the children who survived the Buffalo Creek disaster (Newman, 1976), PTSD per se is rarely discussed. Nevertheless, New­man (1976) reported that most of the 224 children were “significantly or severely emotionally impaired.” Examples of symptoms often con­formed to one or several diagnostic criteria consistent with PTSD.