Part of the book: Traumatic Brain Injury
The aim of this chapter is to systematically review the research exploring the relationship between TBI and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. A literature search was conducted using Google Scholar, Ovid Medline (1946 - Dec 2013), PsycINFO (1806 - Dec 2013), CINAHL plus (1937 - Dec 2013), Cochrane database (2005 – Dec 2013) and Embase (1946 – Dec 2013). The search returned 346 articles, and 11 of these met the inclusion criteria. Anxiety disorders were often found to be a negative outcome following childhood TBI, with a higher incidence of disorders including GAD, ASD, PTSD, PD, OCD, simple/specific phobia, social phobia and SAD found in children following their injury. In most cases, this relationship was strongest for children with severe TBI who sustained their injury at a younger age. Psychosocial adversity was found to be a consistently significant predictor for the likelihood of children developing anxiety following TBI. It is concluded that children who have suffered from a TBI (mild, moderate or severe), are at a higher risk of developing subsequent anxiety disorders, even 1 year following the injury event, and children with more severe injuries, greater psychosocial adversity, and younger age at injury are considered to be the most vulnerable.
Part of the book: A Fresh Look at Anxiety Disorders