Pedopsychiatric and Multidisciplinary Research Devoted to Children Exposed to the Attack in Nice on July 14, 2016 (Program14-7)

Description

On July 14, 2016, in Nice, children and their families were attacked by the organization "EI". This is the second time in our country that children are victims of this organization after the attack on the school Ozar Hotarah in March 2012 in Toulouse where four children were killed "touching end".

In Nice, 86 deaths, including 10 children, the youngest at 4, were recorded. A number of children, still difficult to assess exactly but over 100, was bereaved.

After a traumatic event, multiple clinical consequences may appear in children. Among these consequences, the most common is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This pathology includes 4 main symptoms: the reviviscences of the event, avoidance behaviors, alterations of cognition and mood and neurovegetative overactivation. In addition, PTSD contributes to the development of many other mental disorders. It is estimated that 75% of adolescents or children having a comorbid disorder with PTSD. In the literature, the main comorbidities identified in pediatric populations are: anxiety disorders, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and depression. There is no recommendation as to the therapeutics to be used in psychotraumatism in pediatric population. Epidemiological studies conducted on the consequences of trauma reveal a high variability in the development of psychopathologies. 6 to 20% of exposed children would develop PTSD after a potentially traumatic situation. Several factors can explain the heterogeneity of the results, including the age, the type of trauma experienced, the violence suffered during this trauma. In Nice, to date, more than 2200 children have consulted: 700 children between July 14 and July 28, 2016, 1100 children were seen between August and December, and about 400 since the creation of the Post Traumatic Pediatric Intersectoral Assessment Center (CE2P), in January 2017. The aim of the study is to characterize the psycho-social factors of risk and / or protection interfering in the children's future, following the mass trauma of 14 July 2016 in Nice on a sample of pediatric population exposed in comparison of children controls.

Non-psychotic hallucinations represent a significant symptomatology in child psychiatry (1) and remain clinical question. The results of our previous study "the physalis child" showed a significant correlation between the persistence of non-psychotic acousto-verbal hallucinations (AVH) and the presence of negative emotions, linked to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It seems important to understand the link between trauma and the presence of non-psychotic AVH in children as the literature shows the risk of progression to psychosis when these AVH persist.The interest of the ancllary study of "the physalis child" would be to prospectively observe the presence or not of non-psychotic AVH in the population with PTSD from the "Program 14-7". The question would then be: "Why in two subjects diagnosed with PTSD, one has non-psychotic HAV and the other does not?" The main objective of this ancillary study will be to identify factors of social and emotional cognition linked to the presence of non-psychotic HAV within the cohort of children exposed to the mass trauma of July 14, 2016 in Nice but also to any type of individual trauma.

The impending opening of the trial of the 14 July attack, the conduct and the media coverage associated with the trial are all factors that could be distressing for the children and families exposed to the attack in Nice. Re-exposure to testimonials and certain images can increase the risk of traumatic reactivation with a return of suppressed fears and the symptoms associated. Some factors have been identified as protective: social and family support, cognitive functioning, the presence of residual symptoms or the quality of sleep.

Therefore, an assessment of these factors before and after the opening of the trial would identify children and families with traumatic reactivation, as well as identify protective or risk factors for relapse of traumatic symptoms

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