Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): Treatment with psychotherapy and medications

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms tend not to improve or disappear on their own. As a result, a child or teen with PTSD is typically treated with psychotherapy. Occasionally, they may also need medications.

Psychotherapy for PTSD

Psychotherapy, also known as "talk therapy", involves a trained therapist working with an individual or group of people on common objectives. Depending on the type of psychotherapy, the therapist can offer support, teach coping skills or help the patient(s) explore relationships.

One therapy that has been shown to be effective for PTSD is cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). This focuses on exploring the link between a person's thoughts, emotions and behaviour and helping your child come to terms with the traumatic event they experienced. Within the range of CBT options, trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy has been particularly successful in treating PTSD in children and teens.

Trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy (TF-CBT)

TF-CBT is a structured form of therapy involving a child or teen meeting a therapist for one session a week over an average of 12 to 16 weeks. It is the psychotherapy with the most evidence for success in treating PTSD in children aged three to 18 years.

TF-CBT involves a number of components:

• psychoeducation: explaining PTSD and its symptoms to the child and caregiver(s)
• stress management
• expressing and modifying emotions
• catching and changing distorted and unhelpful thoughts
• creating the narrative (story) of the traumatic event(s)
• processing the trauma narrative
• managing behaviour (through parent sessions)
• parent-child sessions
• evaluation

Other forms of psychotherapy

Sometimes PTSD is treated with other forms of psychotherapy, such as:

• abuse-focused cognitive behavioural therapy (AB-CBT), which helps physically abused children who experience aggression, social difficulties and trauma-related symptoms
• parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT), which helps physically abusive parents or other caregivers improve how they interact with their children

Medications for PTSD

The medications prescribed for PTSD are the same as those prescribed for anxiety disorders. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the most commonly prescribed medication.

Your child's doctor may need to try more than one medication and dosage to find what works best for your child. They will monitor your child closely to check for your child's response to the medication, including any side effects, and adjust the medication dose if needed.

Further information

For more information on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), please see the following pages:

PTSD: Overview

PTSD: Signs and symptoms

Please visit our teen mental health hub for teen-specific resources on treatment and coping methods for trauma.