Which statement best reflects pediatric PTSD criteria?

• A. Exposure to trauma; intrusion; avoidance; negative mood/cognition; arousal; duration >1 month; impairment; may include dissociation.
• B. Symptoms must begin within 24 hours of trauma and resolve within a week.
• C. Only intrusion is required for diagnosis.
• D. Dissociation is mandatory for diagnosis.

Answer: (C)

Pediatric PTSD requires a child to show symptoms across multiple domains after exposure to trauma, not just one type of symptom. After a traumatic event, the child should have intrusion symptoms (like distressing memories or nightmares), avoidant or numbing symptoms, negative changes in thoughts or mood, and increased arousal or reactivity. These symptoms must persist for more than one month and cause clinically significant distress or impairment. Dissociative symptoms can occur, and there can be a dissociative subtype, but they are not required for the diagnosis. This combination of multiple symptom clusters plus a duration criterion is what the best statement reflects. The other options misstate the timing or the necessity of certain symptom types (for example, only intrusion is needed, or dissociation is mandatory).