The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of trauma on an 11-year old male. Initially mental health and healthcare professionals believed that children did not experience long-term negative responses to traumatic events. It was thought that children would undergo initial reactive responses to the trauma, but only for a short time and then they would have complete recovery (Bodvarsdottir, Elklit, & Gudmundsdottir, 2006). The case presented in this paper looks at the lasting impact of a tornado on a child’s mental and physical well being.
Case Summary Jessie, an 11-year old male, had a first-hand encounter with a tornado that swept through his town and his neighborhood. Jessie reported that the tornado came during the night while he was asleep. He remembers being awakened by his mother who anxiously yelled for her children to run to the bathroom for safety. The tornado passed Jessie’s house without leaving much damage, but destroyed all of the other houses on his street. The destroyed properties included the home of Jessie’s best friend, and his elderly next-door neighbor. Jessie’s elderly neighbor was subsequently found, and Jessie’s best friend was moved to temporary housing while his home was repaired. Six months after this event, Jessie is
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The survey was used to determine the most used traumatic assessment tools. Based on this survey, it was shown that Traumatic Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC) was the predominant assessment tool utilized in trauma assessment of children (Elhai, Gray, Kashdan, & Franklin, 2005). The TSC was “originally developed by Briere and Runtz to assess the long-term impact of rape and child sexual abuse (Bodvarsdottir et al., 2006, p. 97). Subsequent versions have been modified and Bodvarsdottir et al. (2006) report that the modified TSC assessment tools have been successful in assessing psychological