Child Abuse Syndrome (CAS): A Newly Recognized Distinct Entity

A number of children and adolescents experience stressful events during their life spans, which can affect them both physically and emotionally. Their reactions to these events are usually time-limited, as most of these children recover without further problems. However, a child or an adolescent may experience a severe traumatic event, including situations where someone's life (especially parents’ lives) is threatened or where major injuries occur (e.g., victims or witnesses of physical/sexual abuse or of violence in the home or community, of a car accident, a natural disaster or a war event, or the diagnosis of a life-threatening illness); in these cases, the risk of developing a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) becomes more likely, and is directly related to the severity of the trauma experienced, to the likelihood of the trauma being repeated, and, when the trauma affects a child’s relative, also to the child’s relationship with the victim [1, 2].