Child PTSD – a false (factitious) disorder
I’m nearing the end of my line-by-line notes on the forensic custody evaluation in a matter after many-many hours. I’m up to about 300 pages now (including the original evaluation, my notes are interwoven into the report).
The custody evaluator just made this statement:
From Forensic Custody Evaluator: “[Mother] reported that [child] has been diagnosed with PTSD because of her experiences with her father and has developed anxiety, which has manifested into headaches and stomach issues she is being treated for.”
This is my response:
The diagnosis of PTSD for [child] is a clear misdiagnosis based on Criterion A of a PTSD diagnosis – the definition of trauma.
Criterion A for PTSD: “Exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence in one (or more) of the following ways…” (DSM-5, p. 271)
Based on reporting, [child] was NOT exposed to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence from her father. There was NO trauma by definition of Criterion A that would lead to post-trauma symptoms.
Post-trauma symptoms are impossible if there was no initial trauma as defined by Criterion A of the DSM-5.
Who misdiagnosed [child] with PTSD? Whoever misdiagnosed [child] with PTSD is incompetent as a mental health professional for failing to even consult the actual DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for PTSD.
That mental health profession is negligent in their diagnosis:
Google Negligence: failure to take proper care in doing something.
Cornell Law School Definition of Negligence: Negligence is a failure to behave with the level of care that someone of ordinary prudence would have exercised under the same circumstances. The behavior usually consists of actions, but can also consist of omissions when there is some duty to act (e.g., a duty to help victims of one’s previous conduct).
All mental health professionals have duty to protect obligations.
- Negligent Diagnosis: The mental health provider who misdiagnosed [child] with PTSD without applying the actual DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for a PTSD diagnosis failed to take proper care in assessing and diagnosing [child].
- Competence in Trauma Pathology: Whoever misdiagnosed [child] with PTSD without applying the actual DSM-5 criteria for a diagnosis of PTSD is not competent in the diagnostic assessment and treatment of trauma and child abuse pathology.
Craig Childress, Psy.D.
Clinical Psychologist, CA PSY 18857
