Q: We were involved in a car crash four days ago. My face is bruised and stitched up and there are bruises all over my body. My son (2) and daughter (7) were with me in the car. Thank God they’re fine and we’re all alive. But my son is terribly traumatised. He wakes at night, screaming and refusing to let me touch or hold him then minutes later he doesn’t want to let me go. How can I help him cope?

A: At the age of two it’s difficult for him to understand what has happened except that it was sudden and horrible. His reaction is likely to become less severe. He Health24.com’s CyberShrink, Professor Michael Simpson, answers questions on mental wellbeing has little vocabulary with which to express his concerns but perhaps drawing or playing with toy cars can help him express some of it.

Keep reassuring him you’re all okay. He may fi nd the stitches and bruises rather frightening – do lots of normal, routine things with him and reassure him underneath the scars is the same old mom.

His behaviour at night may be night terrors rather than a nightmare: he may wake up in pure terror, initially less aware of his surroundings and less open to comforting. He’ll respond to a calm presence and then, as you’ve noticed, wake more fully and get clingy for a while. It’s as though he has partly recognised awful things can happen and he might have lost you; he therefore needs time to feel sure you’re still around and likely to stay.

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