Child suffered from a severe psychological trauma

Child  suffered from a severe psychological trauma

A twelve-year child lost her twenty-eight years sister during the last aggression on the Gaza Strip in the discriminate shelling that targeted the Eastern part of the Strip. The child suffered from a severe psychological trauma as she could not believe what happened.  After the aggression ended, the mother brought her child to the clinic as she noticed that her daughter had some psychological changes that reflected on her behavior inside and outside the school. The child felt of grievous sadness, shyness and isolation; she refused to socialize with her family and friends in the school. She became very nervous with her younger sisters, and sometimes she was beating them. The child suffered from nightmares, related to the death of her sister. Consequently, the child refused being in contact with her nieces as she was feeling anxious and stressed when she saw and talked them. With regard to the school, as continuously recalled the incident, she stared most of time and suffered from lack of concentration that lowered her academic achievement significantly.

When she firstly started dealing with the psychologist, the child was scared and anxious; she refused to express the traumatic incident she was exposed to. However, after several sessions took place, the child began to positively respond to the psychologist and express her fears and feelings. The psychologist assured her that she is in a safe place and that she will help her to overcome all changes and symptoms and return to her normal life. Also, she responded to the therapeutic sessions after the psychologist stressed the privacy and security principles of the place and that what she suffered from is a normal reaction to the incident.   

After being targeted to more than one psychological and behavioral therapy session, which focused on overcoming the symptoms and on how to relax and deeply breathe, the child began to overcome the psychological symptoms significantly. The relationship of the child with her sisters and friends became better and she started participating in the group activities and sports in the school. Consequently, her academic achievement got improved dramatically.