Sometimes We Are Hurt By Traumatic Events: How to Talk to Kids About PTSD

This book focuses on how post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can impact the life of a child. Ethan and his mom had struggled to adjust to having his dad be away at war and then he finally returned. But instead of picking up where they left off before his deployment, it was almost as if a different person returned to their family. They soon learned that the numerous traumatic experiences he had in the field contributed to the development of symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Initially Ethan blamed himself for the increased tension in their home. But a couple of people he trusted opened his eyes to the challenges his father was wrestling with after returning from war. Ethan learned that lots of relatively-common things can trigger PTSD in good, healthy people. Car wrecks, major health emergencies, natural disasters and other painful situations in which people feel relatively helpless to control horrible conditions can plunge them into the pit of PTSD pain. Ethan is encouraged when he learned that while working to cope with and overcome PTSD symptoms is extremely difficult and requires lots of perseverance, patience, love and understanding, there are effective treatments that bring relief and a greater sense of self-control and self-respect. He changes the way he looks at this father and his struggles, and their relationship gradually begins to change too.