Post-traumatic stress symptoms in childhood brain tumour survivors and their parents

Objectives This study aimed to investigate post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in childhood brain tumour survivors and their parents. A further aim was to explore the relationship between objective illness parameters, parent–child interactions, coping styles and PTSS. Methods A cross-sectional correlational design was employed. Fifty-two childhood brain tumour survivors, aged 8–16, and 52 parents completed a battery of questionnaires designed to assess quality of parent–child interactions, monitoring and blunting attentional coping styles and PTSS. Results Over one-third (35%) of survivors and 29% of their parents reported severe levels of PTSS (suggestive of post-traumatic stress disorder ‘caseness’). Increased parent–child conflict resolution for survivors and number of tumour recurrences for parents independently predicted the variance in PTSS. Conclusions For a substantial proportion of brain tumour survivors and their parents the process of survivorship is a considerably distressing experience.

Emotional reasoning and anxiety sensitivity: associations with social anxiety disorder in childhood

Background Two specific cognitive constructs that have been implicated in the development and maintenance of anxiety symptoms are anxiety sensitivity and emotional reasoning, both of which relate to the experience and meaning of physical symptoms of arousal or anxiety. The interpretation of physical symptoms has been particularly implicated in theories of social anxiety disorder, where internal physical symptoms are hypothesized to influence the individual's appraisals of the self as a social object. Method The current study compared 75 children on measures of anxiety sensitivity and emotional reasoning: 25 with social anxiety disorder, 25 with other anxiety disorders, and 25 nonanxious children (aged 7–12 years). Results Children with social anxiety disorder reported higher levels of anxiety sensitivity and were more likely than both other groups to view ambiguous situations as anxiety provoking, whether physical information was present or not. There were no group differences in the extent to which physical information altered children's interpretation of hypothetical scenarios. Limitations This study is the first to investigate emotional reasoning in clinically anxious children and therefore replication is needed. In addition, those in both anxious groups commonly had comorbid conditions and, consequently, specific conclusions about social anxiety disorder need to be treated with caution. Conclusion The findings highlight cognitive characteristics that may be particularly pertinent in the context of social anxiety disorder in childhood and which may be potential targets for treatment. Furthermore, the findings suggest that strategies to modify these particular cognitive constructs may not be necessary in treatments of some other childhood anxiety disorders.

“Very sore nights and days”: the child’s experience of illness in early modern England, c. 1580-1720

Sick children were ubiquitous in early modern England, and yet they have received very little attention from historians. Taking the elusive perspective of the child, this article explores the physical, emotional, and spiritual experience of illness in England between approximately 1580 and 1720. What was it like being ill and suffering pain? How did the young respond emotionally to the anticipation of death? It is argued that children’s experiences were characterised by profound ambivalence: illness could be terrifying and distressing, but also a source of emotional and spiritual fulfilment and joy. This interpretation challenges the common assumption amongst medical historians that the experiences of early modern patients were utterly miserable. It also sheds light on children’s emotional feelings for their parents, a subject often overlooked in the historiography of childhood. The primary sources used in this article include diaries, autobiographies, letters, the biographies of pious children, printed possession cases, doctors’ casebooks, and theological treatises concerning the afterlife.