70% Of Children Who Witness A School Shooting Will Develop PTSD

by Monica Davis

When we think of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD), we think of adults. But not everyone who develops the syndrome is an adult. Many are children. School children.

Children are more at risk to different kinds of trauma — particularly school shootings, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which is considered a pre-eminent authority on PTSD. Seventy-se

ven percent of children who

 witness a school shooting will develop PTSD, according to the VA. READMOREHERE

And many of those children have already developed PTSD because of life experiences in the home or in their neighborhoods. Children who witness, or are the victims of family violence, gang violence, violence in schools and neighborhoods are at risk.  Many are living in the urban equivalent of a war zone and are paying a terrible price.

Children and teens could have PTSD if they have lived through an event that could have caused them or someone else to be killed or ba

dly hurt. Such events include sexual or physical abuse or other violent crimes. Disasters such as floods, school shootings, car crashes, or fires might also cause PTSD. Other events that can cause PTSD are war, a friend’s suicide, or seeing violence in the area they live.

Child protection services in the U.S. get around 3 million reports each year. This involves 5.5 million children. Of the reported cases, there is proof of abuse in about 30%. From these cases, we have an idea how often different types of abuse occur:

• 65% neglect
• 18% physical abuse
• 10% sexual abuse
• 7% psychological (mental) abuse

Also, 3-10 million children witness family violence each year. Around 40-60% of those cases involve child physical abuse. (Note: It is thought that two-thirds of child abuse cases are not reported.) READMOREHERE

While we concentrat PTSD treatment on war veterans, we are ignoring the millions of children who are at risk.  Think of it this way: between the reserves and activ duty military personnel, we have a standing army of approximately 2 million people. That pales to the 5.5 million children who may devlop PTSD and are ignored, or do not receive treatment or counseling.

Even worse: PTSD can actually change the structure of the brain, altering the way the brain processes memory and emotion.  

Severe stress can damage a child’s brain, say researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. The researchers found that children with post-traumatic stress disorder and high levels of the stress hormone cortisol were likely to experience a decrease in the size of the hippocampus – a brain structure important in memory processing and emotion. MOREHERE

What this means is that there are millions of children in our schools who suffer from PTSD.  Their brains may be altered by their experiences and their emotional responses may be different from the norm. they may perform differently in school because of the syndrome, floundering in school settings which they are no longer able to navigate.

Imagine the frustration a child feels when he is no longer able to process information, or to understand his lessons, and finds no sympathy in his teachers, or with his parents.

Imagine the energy that it requires to constantly fight a fear or flight response, and have your teacher tell you that you aren’t trying hard enough to understand your schoolwork. Or, to ignore and dismiss you completely.

While we are jumping on the testing bandwagon, running kids and teachers through the test and evaluation maize, perhaps it is time to take a different approach. It is time to move beyond the testing and trained monkey education model.

Until we address the issuee of PTSD and mental illness in our schools and society, we will remain victimized by violence, mayhem and death in our classrooms and neighborhoods,