Trauma treatment for children and adolescents: stabilizing or trauma-focused therapy?
Ramón Lindauer · 2015 · European Journal of Psychotraumatology · Open access
Child abuse is widely prevalent in the Netherlands, and the strong social and political focus now put on the issue is fully warranted. Prevalence studies have estimated that around 3 % of all Dutch children experience some form of abuse or neglect (Alink et al., 2011; Lamers-Winkelman, Slot, Bijl, & Vijlbrief, 2007; Van IJzendoorn et al., 2007). The most common forms of maltreatment are neglect and domestic violence. Being a witness to domestic violence is a form of child maltreatment. In 2012, approximately 6,000 children under age 18 were accommodated in some kind of women’s or homeless facility in the Netherlands. Half of these were in women’s refuges after fleeing domestic violence. Research by Brilleslijper-Kater et al. (2010) found that such children had experienced an average of seven potentially distressing or traumatic events; most had directly experienced domestic violence by witnessing verbal or physical violence between their parents. A study in the Therapeutic Foster Care treatment program at De Bascule found that nearly a quarter of such children had experienced five or more different placements outside the parental home. Persistent relocations like these have an adverse impact on child development. Maltreatment leads to serious problems in children’s psychosocial functioning. Mental health problems may include posttraumatic stress disorder, other anxiety disorders, depressive disorder, attachment disorder, and conduct disorder. Such conditions are detrimental to a child’s development and may culminate in problems in the family, problems at school, and problems with other children (Jonkman, Verlinden, Bolle, Boer, & Lindauer, 2013; Lindauer & Boer, 2012). The negative