Examples Of Direct Events

PTSD can occur while facing either a direct or indirect event. A direct event is a trauma that personally happened to you compared to an indirect event is a trauma you heard of. Medical intervention, abuse and the loss of a loved one are examples of direct and indirect events. Any child that undergoes different procedures and surgeries in a hospital setting can become traumatizing. The kids are exposed to direct events because it is personally happening to them. “Children with serious disease such as cancer and children who undergo hospitalisation for paediatric injury have also been shown to suffer from PTSD” (Dyregrov & Yule 2006). For example, cancer survivors have a bigger chance of getting PTSD if their treatment time was longer. Due to the amount of time they spent in operating

As for adults, we rarely see those kinds of symptoms. They do not revert to thumb-sucking or bedwetting nor do they develop a strong attachment to their parents. Not only medical intervention or abuse but also the loss of a loved one can be the cause of PTSD. This is an example of an indirect event. In most cases, it is shown that PTSD occurs months after the loss of a loved one (Brake 2013). The reason for that is the symptoms happening before the one month-mark. Some kids are too young to understand the true meaning of death. They question where they go and why they will never see them again. Also, “they are likely to have intrusive thoughts that revolve around thinking about the person who died all the time, and seeing the person who died everywhere they look.” (Brake 2013). That is when the flashbacks and nightmares come in. All they think about is the person who passed away. They reminisce on memories they had with him or her and it takes over their