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The following article was published in Your Health Magazine. Our mission is to empower people to live healthier.
Lynn L. West, PhDc, BCETS, LCPC
PTSD In Babies
Lynn L. West & Associates, LLC

PTSD In Babies

When Blaise was 3 1/2 years old, he was physically coordinated, emotionally even, outgoing, friendly, and curious. He especially enjoyed playing with toys and games that have many pieces to them and require problem solving and order. Blaise had unusually good language skills for his age and a good ability to express himself verbally.

That year, Blaise was at the Annapolis Mall with his grandparents and his mother. The family was in the food court eating, passing time before going to the movies. Blaise finished his food before everyone else was done eating. His grandmother took him to the play area behind the ticket kiosk to occupy him while the rest of his family finished their meal.

All of a sudden mall security began locking down the mall. His grandmother was not sure what was going on but she grabbed Blaise and told him to stay close to her. Mall security was locking down the mall because of the shooting across the street. In the beginning mall security did not know if the shooter was on the loose or had been caught.

Blaise experienced complete helplessness and horror in the chaos and confusion in the behavior of everyone around him. It was complete pandemonium. He saw people in the food court area fleeing in all directions, creating complete chaos while screaming and tipping over chairs. The cages on the storefronts were being slammed shut by employees inside trying to protect themselves. Nobody knew what was going on, increasing the sense of helplessness and fear.

His grandmother grabbed Blaise and ran to the beauty salon near the play area. The employees were shutting the store, but they let her in with Blaise in her arms. They were led to the ladies room in the back of the store, where they sat on the floor. As he sat in her lap, all the color had drained from his face. He became emotionally agitated. He was trembling and shaking. His grandmother could feel Blaises little heart pounding “a mile a minute.”

Afterwards, when everything was back to normal, the family went to see a movie. The first signs of PTSD were apparent when a scene in the movie depicted a stressful situation. Blaise became psychologically overwhelmed and physiologically reactive when he re-experienced the trauma of the fear of death implied in the symbolism of the violent movie scene.

Over the next two weeks, he had difficulty sleeping. He had dreams of falling into a deep cave where he couldn’t climb out. He kept calling for his sister to help him, but she couldn’t hear him. He dreamed he was standing behind a gate and the gate suddenly opened and water rushed in and swallowed him up.

He began acting out behaviorally in situations where he did not feel safe. He wouldn’t put his clothes on to go to school, because he had been transferred to a new classroom. He became so disobedient with his father that they had to leave Best Buy when his Dad took him there for shopping. Blaise had difficulty recalling the events, except in fragmentary pieces. He began humming to block out the sound of his grandmothers voice when she asked him about what happened in the mall.

In therapy, all of Blaises behavioral problems were determined to be secondary to the traumatic event and not instances of intentional behavioral infractions that would respond to punishment to correct them. Blaise meets the DSM-TR diagnostic criteria for PTSD.

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