What are the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder?
The following are the most common symptoms of PTSD. However, each child or adolescent may experience PTSD in different manners, and may have some or all of the listed symptoms. Children and adolescents with PTSD experience extreme emotional, mental and physical distress when exposed to situations that remind them of the traumatic event. Some may repeatedly experience the trauma in the form of nightmares and disturbing recollections during the day and may also experience any, or all, of the following: • sleep disturbances • depression • being hypervigilant • being easily startled • loss of interest in things they used to enjoy; detachment; general lack of responsiveness; feeling numb • difficulty feeling affectionate toward others • irritability, more aggressive than before, or even violent • avoiding certain places or situations that bring back memories • flashbacks or intrusive images (flashbacks can come in the form of images, sounds, smells, or feelings; a person usually believes th
