Trauma Is Treatable In Children And Adults

Trauma results from an individual experiencing or witnessing a physically or emotionally harmful event or series of events. Traumatic events are not rare in the United States; around 60 percent of men and 50 percent of women will experience at least one trauma at some point in their lives.

According to the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, women are more likely to experience sexual assault and childhood sexual abuse while men are more likely to experience accidents, physical assault, combat, disaster or to witness a death or injury.

Adults aren’t the only ones, however, who can endure the pains of trauma. Child protection services in the U.S. get around 3 million reports each year. This involves 5.5 million children, with proof of abuse in about 30 percent of the reported cases.

The Psychiatric Research Institute’s physicians are trained to not only recognized the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, which can cause symptoms like depression, anxiety, withdrawal, or reckless behavior like substance abuse, but also to treat these symptoms thoroughly. PRI’s trauma service uses an interdisciplinary approach to treating patients displaying symptoms related to PTSD, including general anxiety and worry, panic attacks, depression and relationship problems. A two-stage process is used to target the symptoms. Patients first undergo a structured mental-health assessment to allow the clinicians to evaluate their symptoms and their medical history. A treatment plan is then devised, focusing on evidence-based therapy that is determined to meet the patient’s individual needs.

Our AR BEST (Arkansas Building Effective Services for Trauma) not only treats young victims of trauma but trains therapists around the state using evidence-based practices on the best means of caring for children who have suffered through traumatic events. PRI also has a number of ongoing research trials aimed at identifying sources of trauma in young individuals and formulating plans on eliminating the problems before they become critical.