1 PTSD symptoms. This number of symptoms did not diminish by even as much as one symptom over 2 years. Furthermore, PTSD diagnosis at lime 1 significantly predicted degree of functional impairment 1 and 2 years later. Strategies for addressing this challenge First, professionals must be aware that preschool children can develop PTSD. Only then can appropriate screening and referrals for assessment be triggered. Second, when conducting assessments, developmentally appropriate measures and criteria must be used so as not to miss the diagnosis. Third, AS-703026 price because Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of the traditional under-recognition of PTSD, which may be overshadowed by the more beliaviorally observable comorbid symptoms

of ODD and SAD, professionals must

be on alert when children present with sudden onset of new symptoms to evaluate for past traumatic events and do a thorough PTSD assessment. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Challenge 4: assessment challenges The accurate assessment of PTSD is perhaps more timeconsuming, difficult, and emotional than for any other disorder. Details of a proper assessment are beyond the scope of this paper, but this section highlights three Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical particular challenges. Interviewing burden and complexity for multiple traumatic events While the DSM-IV criteria do not restrict making the diagnosis to a single traumatic event, diagnostic interviews and self-report instruments that assess PTSD often ask respondents to select Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical “the worst” traumatic event that he or she experienced and to rate all PTSD symptoms in relation to that specific event. Many children have experienced multiple traumatic events. One recent study indicates that 68% of all children in the US have experienced at least one potentially traumatic event (PTE), and half of these children have experienced multiple PTEs.32 It

is often difficult for children, particularly young children, to select only one traumatic event as “the worst” they have experienced. It is common for children who have Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical experienced multiple PTEs to describe that they are experiencing some PTSD symptoms related to one trauma and other symptoms related to another trauma. No known study has specifically examined (i) children’s PTSD symptoms related to any Dimethyl sulfoxide traumatic event; versus (ii) children’s PTSD symptoms only related to the “worst” traumatic event they had experienced. A reasonable hypothesis is that significantly more symptoms would be reported in (i) than (ii). Suppose such a child reported domestic violence, traumatic death of a brother, and sexual abuse exposure. This child reports one re-experiencing, one avoidance, and one hyperarousal symptom related to domestic violence; two re-experiencing, two avoidance, and two hyperarousal symptoms related to the traumatic death; and one re-experiencing, two avoidance, and one hyper-arousal symptom related to sexual abuse.