The impact of severe stress on children in the first years of life
The lecture is devoted to the consideration of the specifics of clinical manifestations of stress disorders in children aged from birth to five years. This problem is poorly understood both in psychiatry and in medical psychology. The review is based on a comparison of clinical manifestations of stress disorders in adults, reflected in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (ICD-10), with the symptoms of similar disorders in young children, described in modern medical and psychological literature, and included as independent category to international Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood (DC:0-3R, 2005; DC:0-5, 2016). It is shown that infants and young children are subject to stress as well as adults and older children, and they can also be diagnosed with stress disorder. However, their specific symptoms may vary. Such specific age-related symptoms of stress disorders as a post-traumatic game, separation anxiety, regression in development are considered. Presence of a stress disorder in a child can adversely affect the course of its development, impacting their social relationships and cognitive processes. Particular attention is paid to the question of the fundamental importance of maternal-child and broader family relationships in the picture of stress disorders in children during the first years of life. The necessity of organizing therapeutic care for both members of the mother-child dyad is shown. The lecture is addressed to specialists of various profiles, working with children of early and preschool age so that they can recognize the signs of stress disorders in children and initiate a family appeal for specialized help.