PTSD in Teenagers by Anna Craig

Guiding Question:

annacraig99_ — 2023-11-18 17:51:54 UTC

How do teenagers deal with flashbacks or memories of the traumatic event?

Guiding Question:

annacraig99_ — 2023-11-18 17:52:38 UTC

How do teens go about accepting the aspects of their lives that have changed after the traumatic event?

Guiding Question:

annacraig99_ — 2023-11-18 17:53:15 UTC

How do teens go about grieving, especially since this is likely their first time experiencing grief?

Guding Question:

annacraig99_ — 2023-11-18 17:53:56 UTC

How are the different relationships in a teen's life affected by the effects of the traumatic event?

Novel Study: The Burn Journals by Brent Runyon

annacraig99_ — 2023-11-18 18:00:53 UTC

In this memoir, Brent Runyon tells the story of what led him to light himself on fire in an attempt to kill himself, the immediate results of his actions, and his healing journey following his suicide attempt. Besides all of the expected struggles that come along while healing from severe burns, Runyon is shocked when superhero movies, hot water in a bath tub, or the sight of his old bathroom trigger flashbacks that make it hard for him to live a normal life. He struggles to find a new normal while not letting the memories of that one night pull him down.

Novel Study: A Heart In The Body In The World by Deb Caletti

annacraig99_ — 2023-11-18 18:06:49 UTC

Annabelle has witnessed her best friend and her boyfriend be murdered by a jealous boy in school, and finds comfort in running. Throughout the story, Annabelle starts a movement by running the length of the entire United States before she has to go to court and testify against the murderer. Annabelle's support system, made up of her family and some friends, are strong. However, Annabelle struggles to deal with the fact that her lifelong best friend and the boy she was in love with will not be there waiting for her at the finish line. Annabelle's journey of accepting these new changes is inspirational.

Novel Study: It Ends With Us By Colleen Hoover

annacraig99_ — 2023-11-18 18:14:15 UTC

In this novel, Lily experiences not only the childhood trauma of her mother be abused by her father, but the same kind of physical and sexual abuse from her boyfriend as a young woman. Through witnessing and healing from this trauma, Lily's relationships with her mother, a boy she was in love with in high school, and her abusive boyfriend's family are strengthened as they provide comfort and support to her as she heals and moves on from the Trauma. As for her relationships with her late father and her abusive (now-ex) boyfriend, there is a wall built between them that is too large to ever be torn down.

Novel Study: The Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

annacraig99_ — 2023-11-18 18:20:40 UTC

Daunis loses her lifelong best friend to a violent ex-boyfriend in the midst of dealing with her involvement in an FBI investigation, the death of her uncle, and the relationship forming between the new boy at her school. The death of her best friend breaks her, but Daunis stays strong by staying close to her Native American culture, and celebrating her friend's journey into a pain-free afterlife instead of dwelling on her absence in the present. Her resilience is nothing short of incredible.

Nonfiction: What Happens in Your Brain During a PTSD Flashback? - Tiffany Chi

annacraig99_ — 2023-11-19 14:36:20 UTC

This article focuses on the neuroscience behind flashbacks, explaining in detail exactly what is going on in different parts of the brain while someone with PTSD is experiencing a flashback of a traumatic event. Several suggestions of ways to help someone who is in the middle of having a flashback are also given.

Nonfiction: What are PTSD flashbacks really like? - Michael G Quirke

annacraig99_ — 2023-11-19 14:41:15 UTC

This article focuses on the science behind a flashback along with the different things that can trigger a flashback. There are also several helpful coping strategies for someone to try when they are experiencing a PTSD flashback like journaling, mindfulness, and grounding techniques.

Nonfiction: Growth After Trauma - Richard G Tedeschi

annacraig99_ — 2023-11-19 14:45:12 UTC

This article lays out the different steps of growing after grief and goes into detail explaining what goes on in each one. Someone experiencing trauma must go through education, emotional regulation, disclosure, narrative development, and service in order to heal. Following these steps can lead to a number of significant positive effects in the life of the person who experienced trauma.

Nonfiction: How To Embrace Change When Trauma Symptoms Feel So Familiar - Rhonda Kelloway

annacraig99_ — 2023-11-19 14:48:50 UTC

This article describes the importance of change in the life of someone who has experienced trauma, but the difficulties that it can present. Change can feel like it is dangerous when you are dealing with traumatic memories, and so in order to feel like you aren't being swept away by the emotions that come along with change, it is important to anchor yourself.

Nonfiction: The Grieving Teen - Helen Fitzgerald

annacraig99_ — 2023-11-19 14:52:40 UTC

This article focuses on the factors that make grief more challenging for teens than for adults. Teens are likely to hide the way that they are feeling and instead express their pain in ways that are unhealthy. Teens are also less likely to come to adults for support, as they often feel that their friends are the only ones they can comfortably confide in. Group therapy is suggested to teens experiencing grief.

Nonfiction: Teens & Grief - Donna Schuurman

annacraig99_ — 2023-11-19 15:00:28 UTC

This article goes in depth on the different kinds of grief that can be experienced by teens and how each will affect them differently. Since teenagers are still getting used to their emotions and how to handle them in a healthy way, this article suggests a lot of really helpful things that adults can do to help teens as they are going through the grieving process.

Nonfiction: How PTSD Can Affect Your Relationship - Rubin Khoddam

annacraig99_ — 2023-11-19 15:05:46 UTC

This article touches on the variety of ways that PTSD in one person can affect their romantic partner and how that couple can go about working through their struggles. In relation to their PTSD, someone may struggle with emotional regulation, self-isolation, depression, anxiety, avoidance, or hopelessness. As a person handles their trauma, these new symptoms, and trying to keep up with their day-to-day life, they can become overwhelmed and the effects of that can be hard on them and their partner.

Nonfiction: PTSD & Relationships: Supporting a Partner With PTSD - Meagan Turner

annacraig99_ — 2023-11-19 15:09:00 UTC

This article touches on the ways that PTSD can make a romantic relationship challenging and suggests a number of ways in which someone can help their partner when they are dealing with trauma. Some of the things they can do to help are validating their feelings, encouraging them to seek treatment, avoid shaming them, and becoming aware of the things that trigger them.

Video - What are Flashbacks? - Dr. Todd Grande

annacraig99_ — 2023-11-19 15:15:10 UTC

This video explains what flashbacks are and how they can differ in experience, intensity, or frequency. Grande talks about triggers and how they can be very clearly connected to the traumatic event, or they can be seemingly unrelated but still trigger a flashback just as much as a more obvious trigger.

Video: What Trauma Taught Me About Resilience - Charles Hunt

annacraig99_ — 2023-11-19 15:18:53 UTC

This video focuses on the importance of resilience and how it can change the trajectory of your life. Hunt talks about the struggles he has faced in his life and the choices that he made to change the course of his life, and suggests ways that we can do the same.

Video: How Teens Deal With Grief - Parents for Window Blind Safety

annacraig99_ — 2023-11-19 15:22:02 UTC

This video features a young man sharing the way that he grieved his twin sister when she passed away, and also how her passing affected the way his parents raised him and how cautious they were constantly. He talks about the way that he should have handled his grief, and then the way that he did while emphasizing the importance of dealing with your grief in a healthy manner.

Video: Why Traumatized People Struggle With Friendships - Crappy Childhood Fairy

annacraig99_ — 2023-11-19 15:25:41 UTC

This video focuses on how difficult it can be to trust others or build relationships with others when you are struggling to handled trauma that you have experienced in the past, especially if that trauma relates to how you were treated by another person. She shares her own experiences and the valuable lessons she has learned throughout her life, dealing with trauma from her past and still trying to live a normal life.

Additional Resource: Emotional Flashbacks and CPTSD (Podcast)

annacraig99_ — 2023-11-19 15:35:03 UTC

This podcast episode focuses on how you can experience flashbacks and work through them in a way that also doesn't make you feel like you are shaming yourself for having the emotions that you do. It also focuses on how you can recognize your triggers and use them as a tool to heal from your trauma.

Additional Resource: PTSD by Guillaume Singelin (Graphic Novel)

annacraig99_ — 2023-11-19 15:39:06 UTC

This graphic novel features Jun, who has experienced a significant amount of trauma in her time serving in the military. The story follows her through her travels back home and all of the hurdles she must jump through to tackle her PTSD and try to survive amongst all of the new challenges she faces.

Additional Resource: Why We Need To Talk About Adolescent Grief - Are We There Yet? (Podcast)

annacraig99_ — 2023-11-19 15:42:35 UTC

This podcast episode features Ann Faison who talks about the grief she experienced as a young teen and how that age makes the grieving process so much different from how it would be for an adult. Being an adult and now being able to look back at her past experiences, she discusses the importance of acknowledging grieving teens and ways to support them.

Additional Resource: The Perks of Being A Wallflower (Movie)

annacraig99_ — 2023-11-19 15:54:19 UTC

This movie does an amazing job at depicting the different ways that trauma can impact different relationships in someone's life both positively and negatively. Charlie forms close and emotionally tight friendships with Sam and Patrick due to his feelings of not being like others in their school. However, Charlie's relationship with his family become rocky as a result of the progression Charlie has made with his own trauma throughout the film.