ABSTRACT
Trauma is defined as incidents experienced, witnessed or learned about that 1) involve “actual or threatened death or serious injury, or other threat to one or another’s physical integrity” and 2) elicit intense “fear, helplessness or horror” (American Psychiatric Association 2000)”. Trauma is common in youth, impacting as many as 80% of children worldwide (Sharma-Patel et al. 2011). In a US-based longitudinal study, 68.8% of children were exposed to one or more traumatic events by their 16th birthday (Copeland et al. 2007). Children experience a variety of traumas, including learning
about traumatic experiences of relatives or friends (62%), sudden death of friends or relatives (60%), assaults (38%), motor vehicle crash (28%), and natural disasters (i.e., tornados, fire, flood or earthquake) (17%) (Breslau et al. 1998). Although extremely rare, school shootings, such as the recent shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, also represent the types of trauma that may directly impact children.
