Coping with chronic adverse experience in childhood and adolescence

The paper is based on a long-standing research and clinical work with children and adolescents who were exposed to chronic adverse circumstances linked to war in ex-Yugoslavia, exile and deteriorated social context and to abuse and/or neglect in family. The main groups of factors influencing the outcome of traumatic experience were: dimensions of traumatic experience, child’s own resources, family network and the social context. Emotional and cognitive maturity of the child, high self-esteem, secure attachment, child’s ability to use spontaneously natural ways of healing like play, dreams, creative expression, were the most often recognized protective factors, while the history of previous trauma and pre-existing psychopathology were the most important vulnerability factors.

Parental emotional accessibility, empathy and provision of cognitive frame for comprehending the traumatic events facilitated the coping process in children and youth. The social context turned out to be of special importance for the coping of adolescents. lt could enhance their coping abilities by providing a cognitive framework for interpretation and understanding of the traumatic events and facilitating their integration in the life project of the young person. The opportunities to master the reality and put some meaningful goals that the young person can identify with and fight for are powerful "remedies" for healing after traumatic experience.