Stress-Related Disorders Children and Adolescents: A Commentary on the Revisions of Diagnostic Criteria in DSM-5 and ICD-11

This commentary addresses the integration of a developmental perspective in the stress-related disorder section of DSM-5 and in the ICD-11 proposal. The appropriateness of the general features of the proposed diagnostic categories for children and adolescents and the specifications of age-related manifestations are discussed. The introduction of an age-related subtype for children aged 6 years or younger in DSM-5 and the proposition of a new category, complex posttraumatic stress disorder, in ICD-11 may prove to be important steps toward more developmentally sensitive diagnostic categories. Future research will need to examine the validity of the new stress-related diagnostic categories for different age groups. Moreover, given the very frequent co-occurrence of multiple forms of stress in childhood, research will also have to address the overlap and interactions between attachment, grief, and trauma-related disorders.