Developmental Trauma Disorder - Update
Jul 7, 2012
I've been struggling for a while trying to get uptodate information on what's happening with the field trials for the proposed new diagnostic classification for the problems suffered by children who've experienced interpersonal trauma -- Developmental Trauma Disorder -- first discussed in great, and moving, detail by Bessel van der Kolk in 2005 in the journal Psychiatric Annals. This article and the most recent "Understanding Interpersonal Trauma in Children: Why We Need a Developmentally Appropriate Trauma Diagnosis", by D'Andrea, W., Ford, J., Stolbach, B., Spinazzola, J., van der Kolk, B., (American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 2012, Vol. 82, No.2, 187-200), are available for download here -- [LINK].
Well, yesterday I got the following email from Regina Musicaro, Clinical Research Coordinator, at The Trauma Center, Justice Resource Institute, Brookline, MA, USA:
"The field trial is still in progress and data collection will not likely end until late fall. Then we have to analyze data across all seven sites nation-wide. In my experience, projects of this caliber take very long to complete (much longer than we want!) and my guess is that the full results will be out in a year. This is just a guess, of course, and the goal is to be ready much sooner. Thank you for your interest in the field trial and I hope to get better answers ASAP."
This means, unfortunately, that the diagnosis probably will not be appearing in the new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Version, of the American Psychiatric Association. Sadly, this might also mean that doctors will be reluctant to use the diagnosis when the field trial results are in, regardless of what the results are, with negative implications for chances of reducing the inappropriate and inadequate treatment children currently receive due to not having a "recognised" disorder, as discussed in the original submission (see above link).