A developmental psychopathology model of childhood traumatic stress and intersection with anxiety disorders

Empirical findings regarding childhood traumatic stress are placed within a developmental life-trajectory model that incorporates a tripartite etiology of posttrauma dis-tress. This approach recognizes an intricate matrix of child-intrinsic factors, developmental maturation and ex-perience, life events, and evolving family and social ecologies. Of central developmental importance in the field of traumatic stress is the ontogenesis of appraisal, emotional response, emotional and physiological regula-tion, and consideration of protective action with regard to danger. The complexity of traumatic situations and their aftermath suggests the relevance of multiple stress diathe-ses in understanding individual variability in proximal and distal effects. Neurobiological systems that subserve danger mature over childhood and adolescence. Neuro-physiological and neurohormonal studies among trauma-tized children and adolescents suggest potential neurode-velopmental stage-related vulnerabilities within these systems. Advances in child development and traumatic stress provide tools for investigating proximal and distal interplay of psychopathology, disturbances in the acqui-sition and maintenance of developmental competencies, and life-trajectory outcomes. A developmental psychopa-thology model suggests different avenues by which dan-gerous circumstances, childhood traumatic experiences, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can intersect with other anxiety disorders over the life span. Bio