{"title":"Mass Trauma in Children: Expanding the Concept of Exposure in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic.","authors":"Betty Pfefferbaum","doi":"10.1007/s11920-025-01635-3","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose of review: </strong>This review examined the concept of exposure in children in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recognizing the varied effects of the pandemic on children across a range of experiences, the review departed from the frequently-used analytic framework based on the stressor criterion for a diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).</p><p><strong>Recent findings: </strong>In addition to the more traditional types of exposure such as personal infection, illness or death of loved ones, and the experiences of children whose parents were essential workers, the review identified experiences among children in the general population as they adjusted to public health mandates, consumed pandemic media coverage, and dealt with the many changes in their daily lives.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>While many COVID-19 experiences would not qualify as exposure for a diagnosis of PTSD, the research recognizes the importance of these experiences and their influence on various outcomes in children.</p>","PeriodicalId":11057,"journal":{"name":"Current Psychiatry Reports","volume":" ","pages":"622-631"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Current Psychiatry Reports","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-025-01635-3","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/9/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PSYCHIATRY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose of review: This review examined the concept of exposure in children in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recognizing the varied effects of the pandemic on children across a range of experiences, the review departed from the frequently-used analytic framework based on the stressor criterion for a diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Recent findings: In addition to the more traditional types of exposure such as personal infection, illness or death of loved ones, and the experiences of children whose parents were essential workers, the review identified experiences among children in the general population as they adjusted to public health mandates, consumed pandemic media coverage, and dealt with the many changes in their daily lives.
Conclusions: While many COVID-19 experiences would not qualify as exposure for a diagnosis of PTSD, the research recognizes the importance of these experiences and their influence on various outcomes in children.
期刊介绍:
This journal aims to review the most important, recently published research in psychiatry. By providing clear, insightful, balanced contributions by international experts, the journal intends to serve all those involved in the care of those affected by psychiatric disorders.
We accomplish this aim by appointing international authorities to serve as Section Editors in key subject areas, such as anxiety, medicopsychiatric disorders, and schizophrenia and other related psychotic disorders. Section Editors, in turn, select topics for which leading experts contribute comprehensive review articles that emphasize new developments and recently published papers of major importance, highlighted by annotated reference lists. An international Editorial Board reviews the annual table of contents, suggests articles of special interest to their country/region, and ensures that topics are current and include emerging research. Commentaries from well-known figures in the field are also provided.