Specificities and Challenges in the Treatment of Acute Stress Reaction in Children and Adolescents

Abstract

Challenges in the therapeutic approach to the patient are inevitable, however, when our patient is a minor, it is clear that the challenges multiply. For almost every mental disorder, we take into account possible stressors that contributed to the disorder, however, in acute stress reaction disorders, as the name itself tells us, stress is directly related to the disorder. Individual vulnerability is directly related to the type of stressor that led to the disorder. This is a temporary mental disorder, and its outcome can be two-way, either a gradual withdrawal of the symptoms of the disorder or their chronicity, and therefore a change in the diagnosis as well as the approach to treatment. Exposure of children to stressful events is particularly vulnerable to their psychological functioning due to lack of life experience. The diagnosis is made through a detailed interview with the child and the parent, where the establishment of mutual trust depends on the approach to the child, and thus the success of further treatment. An indispensable detail is to pay attention to the parents' reaction as well as the consequences that the stressful event caused for them, that is, what are the consequences of facing a direct threat to their own child. Considering the possibility of retraumatization by repeated diagnostic procedures, it would be good to be equipped with both procedural instructions and equipment that will enable the quality of available medical services. Mutual cooperation of all involved professional services involved in the diagnostic and therapeutic part of the procedure is extremely important in order to minimize post-traumatic risk factors.

The treatment approach must be adapted on a case-by-case basis so that the therapeutic outcome is as uniform as possible.

In conclusion, success is essential if there is an adequate therapeutic approach to the child and parents/caregivers, and this is achieved through clear instructions, mutual cooperation and trust.