Ml. Stuber et al., APPRAISAL OF LIFE THREAT AND ACUTE TRAUMA RESPONSES IN PEDIATRIC BONE-MARROW TRANSPLANT PATIENTS, Journal of traumatic stress, 9(4), 1996, pp. 673-686
Although traumatic responses in children are well-documented following
exposure to a variety of life-threatening circumstances, little is kn
own about the subjective appraisal of children during the acute exposu
re. This paper presents both descriptive and quantifiable data regardi
ng the responses of children during the acute phase of hospitalization
for bone marrow transplantation, an extremely aggressive treatment fo
r otherwise fatal illnesses. Children were able to appreciate the life
-threatening nature of their illness and its treatment. They reported
few symptoms consistent with a traumatic stress response. These findin
gs are in contrast to recent data on survivors of childhood cancer, wh
o generally report that they did nor understand that their illness pos
ed a threat to their lives, while reporting moderate levels of posttra
umatic stress symptoms up to 10 years after completion of successful t
reatment. Implications of these findings are discussed.