Trauma Type as a Conditional Risk Factor for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in a Referred Clinic Sample of Adolescents

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), by definition, can only be diagnosed in individuals who have been exposed to a qualifying trauma according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition [1,2]. Trauma type is an overarching category for a wide range of individual traumatic events that are precipitants of the syndrome [3]. Epidemiological data, predominantly from the USA, indicate that adolescence is the developmental period that carries the highest risk of exposure to potentially traumatic events [4,5], with traumatic occurrences peaking between 16 and 20years of age [4].
Source: Comprehensive Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Source Type: research