Dysfunctional posttraumatic cognitions, posttraumatic stress and depression in children and adolescents exposed to trauma: a network analysis.

Journal: Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines

Volume: 61

Issue: 1

Year of Publication: 2021

Affiliated Institutions:  Division of Child and Adolescent Health Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. Department of Clinical Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands. Institute of Psychology, University of Siegen, Siegen, Germany. Jack Brockhoff Child Health and Wellbeing Program, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic, Australia. School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia. School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand. Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. Department of Psychology, Centre for Emotional Health Clinic, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, West Sussex Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, West Sussex, UK. Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation Trust, Norwich, UK. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. De Bascule, Academic Center for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, UK. Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil. Department of Human Development, Institute of Psychology, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil. Kentucky Children's Hospital, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA. Division of Oncology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA. Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. School of Psychology, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia. Faculty of Social Sciences, Psychology, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland. School of Management, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland. Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne, Vic, Australia. Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic, Australia. Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK. Department of Psychology, King's College London Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK. Department of Clinical Psychology, Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.

Abstract summary 

The latest version of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) proposes a posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis reduced to its core symptoms within the symptom clusters re-experiencing, avoidance and hyperarousal. Since children and adolescents often show a variety of internalizing and externalizing symptoms in the aftermath of traumatic events, the question arises whether such a conceptualization of the PTSD diagnosis is supported in children and adolescents. Furthermore, although dysfunctional posttraumatic cognitions (PTCs) appear to play an important role in the development and persistence of PTSD in children and adolescents, their function within diagnostic frameworks requires clarification.We compiled a large international data set of 2,313 children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 years exposed to trauma and calculated a network model including dysfunctional PTCs, PTSD core symptoms and depression symptoms. Central items and relations between constructs were investigated.The PTSD re-experiencing symptoms strong or overwhelming emotions and strong physical sensations and the depression symptom difficulty concentrating emerged as most central. Items from the same construct were more strongly connected with each other than with items from the other constructs. Dysfunctional PTCs were not more strongly connected to core PTSD symptoms than to depression symptoms.Our findings provide support that a PTSD diagnosis reduced to its core symptoms could help to disentangle PTSD, depression and dysfunctional PTCs. Using longitudinal data and complementing between-subject with within-subject analyses might provide further insight into the relationship between dysfunctional PTCs, PTSD and depression.

Authors & Co-authors:  de Haan Anke A Landolt Markus A MA Fried Eiko I EI Kleinke Kristian K Alisic Eva E Bryant Richard R Salmon Karen K Chen Sue-Huei SH Liu Shu-Tsen ST Dalgleish Tim T McKinnon Anna A Alberici Alice A Claxton Jade J Diehle Julia J Lindauer Ramón R de Roos Carlijn C Halligan Sarah L SL Hiller Rachel R Kristensen Christian H CH Lobo Beatriz O M BOM Volkmann Nicole M NM Marsac Meghan M Barakat Lamia L Kassam-Adams Nancy N Nixon Reginald D V RDV Hogan Susan S Punamäki Raija-Leena RL Palosaari Esa E Schilpzand Elizabeth E Conroy Rowena R Smith Patrick P Yule William W Meiser-Stedman Richard R

Study Outcome 

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Statistics
Citations :  APA. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5. 5. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing; 2013.
Authors :  33
Identifiers
Doi : 10.1111/jcpp.13101
SSN : 1469-7610
Study Population
Male,Female
Mesh Terms
Adolescent
Other Terms
Children;DSM-5;ICD-11;adolescents;depression;network analysis;posttraumatic cognitions;posttraumatic stress disorder;trauma
Study Design
Longitudinal Study,Cross Sectional Study
Study Approach
Country of Study
Publication Country
England