Effectiveness of Prolonged Exposure of PTSD in a Community Setting of PTSD Sufferers

Introduction: Efforts to bridge the gap between research based treatment modalities advancements and clinical practice have received the highest priority in the research community. In the child psychiatry field there is an urging need to promote bridging this gap. Parents and child health providers hesitate to refer children to child psychiatrist due to stigma but also due to lack of awareness of available and efficient treatment options. In the field of trauma treatment another reason for lack of treatment is lack of recognition of trauma related symptoms in children. After the second Lebanon war scarce referrals to psychiatric clinics have been registered and access to treatment is low as indicated by 20 referrals in the past year to Emek Hospital. We propose to explore the effectiveness of well-established adult treatment for PTSD, the Prolonged Exposure (PE), in community-based general pediatric clinics, serving an underprivileged diverse population. Methods: Twenty children age 6 to 18 attending general pediatric clinic and in Afula region will included. children will be diagnosed using the Hebrew translation of the Childhood version of the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (Apter et al., 1989 Children will receive the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and the. CPSS All subjects will be treated with a manualized 12-week Prolonged Exposure protocol Ratings will be made at baseline, 6weeks, and 12 weeks using CDI and CPSS Hypothesis: 1\. PE adapted for pediatric population will be effective in treating single-event traumas in a community setting.