THE SUPPRESSION OF REEXPERIENCING - IMPULSE CONTROL AND SOMATIC SYMPTOMS IN CHILDREN FOLLOWING TRAUMATIC EXPOSURE

This study examines the relationship between reexperiencing phenomena and symptoms of arousal following exposure to traumatic events. For a sample of 51 Kuwaiti children exposed to the Gulf Crisis, administrati on of the Children's Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Reaction Index (CP TSD-RI) demonstrated that, within severity levels of traumatic respons e, there was an inverse relationship between reexperiencing and arousa l symptoms, including problems with impulse control and somatic compla ints. Although adolescents had higher levels of difficulty with impuls e control following the crisis, the inverse relationship between reexp eriencing and problems with impulse control was present even after par tialling out the effects of age. Kuwaiti children who reported problem s with impulse control were more likely to have been involved in aggre ssion towards others during the Iraqi occupation. This study lends cre dance to the hypothesis that the suppression of reexperiencing phenome na in children may result in increased difficulties with impulse contr ol and increased somatic complaints.