Our minds are at the most sensitive stage during our childhood. During this time, we are beginning to find a sense of self and creating a healthy personality based on our experiences. (Life Span 11.3) What would happen if a child experiences a traumatic event such as physical/ emotional abuse, the murder of a parent or a close family member, natural disasters, or was involved in an accident? Would it affect their later self? Studies have shown that traumatic experiences that occur during early childhood may affect several aspects of their lives, including relationships, behavior, and emotional responses. (NCTSN, 2009) This paper will focus on the effects caused by trauma experienced during childhood on the brain, mind, and personality and how it Domestic violence is defined as the aim of one partner in an intimate relationship to exert control over the other partner in a violent behavior. Children may be exposed to or experience domestic violence in several ways. Many children are affected by threats between the parents/caregivers, observing a parent who is out of control and full of anger, seeing a parent/caregiver assault the other, or living with the aftermath of a violent assault. Children who live in a household with domestic violence have a high risk of becoming direct victims of child abuse. “Domestic violence poses a serious threat to children’s emotional, psychological, and physical well-being.” (2007) Early childhood trauma. Early childhood trauma refers to the traumatic experiences that occur to a child between birth and the age of 6. These types of events tend to have a profound sensory impact on young children. (2007) The child’s sense of safety may be disrupted by frightening visual stimuli, loud noises, violent movements, and sensations that can be associated with unpredictable frightening events. Young children then tend to recreate these situations in the form of nightmares, new fears, and actions that reenact the
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Show MoreVaughn, M, and Q. Fu, and K. Beaver, and M. DeLisi, and B. Perron, and M. Howard. (2011). Effects of Childhood Adversity. Journal of Interpersonal Viole, 26 (17), pp. 3509-3525.
There are many types of trauma that people experience everyday in our world. People can do awful things to each other, including violence, abuse, and neglect. Accidents happen that leave us feeling distressed. Some threaten our sense of safety and connection. These are all experiences that take time to heal and recover from. We must find a way to reconcile the life we had before it happened and the life as we know it after a tragic event. The pain of the memories alone can be devastating. It takes time and support to find a sense of self again, to feel safe in the world again. But what if the trauma happened before life ever really began? Is there any lasting effect on a person that was merely an infant when the trauma was experienced? The research is growing on this topic and it reveals that there can definitely be some significant effects from infant trauma.
In Chapter1 of How Children Succeed Paul Tough argues that trauma in childhood would cause a negative effect on children. However, this negative effect can be changed.
When exposed during childhood, abuse can affect the completion of the developmental tasks due to the child having a feeling that they are a “bad child”. This may cause them to be fearful and anxious in social interactions and when learning something new causing attention to be unfocused.
“Growing up in a violent home is one of the most terrifying and traumatic experiences a child can go through.” Violence in homes can be domestic abuse between parents, extended family and children. One hand, this has been a recurring problem and should have more exposure in our societies through the use of education. On the other hand, once violence in the family has occurred and the police were notified, the situation tends to get worse between each family member, especially children. The current methods of dealing with violence in homes those children are exposed to whether they are between spouses, families or, children and parents, do more harm than good. The way to solve the problem of the aftermath trauma for young children should not be more emphasis on just physical abuse, but psychological as well.
However, the most clear and abundant effect of childhood trauma appeared to be behavioral problems. This was also the issue that often got covered up the most with “he/she is just a bad kid.” Like what was mentioned before, no kid is a bad kid. However, because the behavioral problems are what normally catches everybody’s eyes its normally what is caught first. Then you have the learning and emotional problems. Many people will often say that the child is slow or that they are sensitive, but many times there is so much more to the problem. There is a much larger problem lying in the background that often causes all the rest of the problems and it is not something that can just be brushed away with words like “lazy, slow, and sensitive.” The main problem must be directed head on that way we can potentially stop these negative effects and labeling that come from childhood
A child experience early trauma that can develop unhealthy mind and body toward adulthood. To illustrate, ACE study shows people with high ACE score are likely to have physical damage to their body growing up (11). Another supported, scientist using ACE study data to conclude that “adversity” from stress starting at an early age causes damage to growth in a child body and mind (12). Childhood studies can explain the behavior effect on child growing up to adulthood because stress related can be the cause to unhealthy mind and unhealthy body. To sum up, Growing up in unhealthy environment that causes trauma to a child, will bring in mental and physical problems as they get
Trauma relates to a type of damage to the mind that comes from a severely distressing event. A traumatic event relates to an experience or repeating events that overwhelmingly precipitated in weeks, months, or decades as one tries to cope with the current situations that can cause negative consequences. People’s general reaction to these events includes intense fear, helplessness or horror. When children experience trauma, they show disorganized or agitative behavior. In addition, the trigger of traumas includes some of the following, harassment, embarrassment, abandonment, abusive relationships, rejection, co-dependence, and many others. Long-term exposure to these events, homelessness, and mild abuse general psychological
The Substance Abuse and mental Health Administration defined trauma as being “the result from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being ("Trauma and Justice, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration", 2012). Physical or psychological traumas can affect the developing brain of children. Physical trauma can cause injury to the developing brain which can lead to things from permanent brain damage to death. Physical trauma to the brain can be caused by things such as car accidents, falls, or even child abuse.
Childhood abuse, whether sexual, physical, and/or emotional, can have an immediate, intense, and long-term effect on not only a child’s development, but also an individual’s course of life in general. From infancy, abused children are more withdrawn and emotionally disengaged than most people, exhibiting less social interaction, prosocial behavior, and affective attachment (Mueller & Silverman, 1989; Solomon & George, 1999). These effects can be observed through high rates of substance abuse (alcohol and drugs), psychiatric disorders, and even through severe interpersonal relationship difficulties.
Traumatic events that occur in adolescents as stated earlier have a permanent effect in the
How does childhood trauma affect health over a lifetime? To answer this question, let’s dive deeper into childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime and really try to dissect this complex question. The key points that will be discussed in this essay are: The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, defining emotional trauma on a child, defining physical trauma on a child, and the role trauma plays in our relationships. Also, discussed in this essay is the effects of trauma on our mental and physical health.
in the literature. Additionally, resilience literature has indicated that particular trauma-exposed adolescents may be affected differently than their trauma-exposed peers (Murphey, Barry, & Vaughn, 2013). Specifically, research has suggested that particular personality traits or individual qualities may buffer negative mental health outcomes after experiences of trauma through maximizing internal and external resources to overcome such adverse experiences (Hampson & Friedman, 2008). This raises a remarkable question: Are some adolescents capable of not only enduring trauma, but also experiencing positive psychological change following such experiences?
This article references a study which began in the late 1990’s and discusses the current rise in toxic stress, an effect of long-term negative experiences which experts term, Adverse Childhood Experience. With repeated exposure over a period of time, toxic stress changes the structure of a child’s brain. Toxic stress, when encountered daily can severely limit children’s ability to process information, express themselves appropriately, and control their actions and emotions. In a typical classroom, these children, on the surface, may seem to be disruptive, withdrawn, and have multiple absences; in reality, they are experiencing some type of abuse, neglect, or violence.
According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), “about one of every four children will experience a traumatic event before the age of 16.” Children who have been exposed to one or more traumatic events can develop negative effects that encumber their daily lives. Because the developmental stages are so critical, traumatic stress in children can have long-lasting effects on their physical and emotional health. Trauma for children can manifest in physiological and psychological ways. For example, children may experience an increased heart rate, sweat, agitation, and become emotionally upset. Other responses children could exhibit include intense and ongoing emotional stress, depressive symptoms, anxiety, behavioral changes, difficulties with attention, academic difficulties, nightmares, physical symptoms such as difficulty sleeping and eating, and aches and pains, among others.” Traumatic stress can also have long-term impacts on careers and relationships if they are not addressed.