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the psychosocial effects of trauma on children
the psychosocial effects of trauma on children
essays on the effects of complex trauma
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As a supervisor that works with children and adolescence that have been traumatize, I believed that it is important that staff understand what complex trauma is and the effects that it have on the population that we are working with. According to Lawson and Quinn, “Complex trauma (CT) results from exposure to severe stressors that occur within the caregiver system or with another presumably responsible adult, are repetitive, and begin in childhood or adolescence” (Lawson & Quinn, 2013, p 498). “Complex traumas (e.g., emotional, physical, sexual, neglect, and witnessing family violence) that most often begin in childhood or adolescence, occur repeatedly over time, and are perpetrated within the care giving system or by other adults who typically are expected to be the source of security, protection, and stability (Courtois & Ford, 2009). Their experience can cause them to act out, mental health issue, and/or developmental challenges.
Staff often struggle with youth that have been exposed to CT, staff expressed that their barrier when working with CT youth they have expressed that...
Developmental Trauma Disorder (DTD) was a proposed by Van der Kolk and D’Andrea (2010). The premise of DTD is based on research data of individuals involved in several research studies. According to Van der Kolk and D’Andrea (2010), DTD is the result of living in a fear-based environment which includes, poor treatment by primary caregivers, instability, and neglect. This type of inadequate treatment is often hidden, meaning it is may not be visible on the surface. Neglectful caregiver-infant relationships perpetuate DTD. These interactions relay the message to the infant or child that the world is not safe, is threatening, and is unreliable. This lack of emotional safety is often as damaging as lack of physical safety (Van der Kolk & d’Andrea,
Greeson et al. point out that many children in foster care “have histories of recurrent interpersonal trauma perpetuated by caregivers early in life (2010).” They identify this as complex trauma. This may include physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect or domestic violence. This study included 2,251 foster children who were referred for treatment. Of those youth 70.4% reported two or more of the forms of complex trauma abuse, and 11.7% reported all five types. Every child in custody has experienced some form of trauma. At the very least they have been through the traumatic experience of being uprooted from the home they know and placed somewhere new, with people they don’t know. Even if they are being taken from a terrible, abusive environment, that is still their family and they are being torn away. The authors point out that children in custody do not receive the most exhaustive mental health screenings possible, so instead we end up treating the most visible symptoms instead of screening trauma exposure and trauma-related symptoms. Time and resources are inevitably spent treating problems that are actually symptoms secondary to trauma experiences and PTSD.
Cohen, J. A., & Mannarino, A. P. (2008). Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Children and Parents. Child & Adolescent Mental Health, 13(4), 158-162.
Rodriguez-Srednicki, Ofelia, and James A. Twaite. Understanding, Assessing, and Treating Adult Victims of Childhood Abuse. Lanham, MD: Jason Aronson, 2006. Print.
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) is one of the most commonly utilized interventions for children (Cary & McMillen, 2011). TF-CBT is a highly structured intervention consisting of 90-minute weekly sessions. The clinician works with the client through eight competencies, including psychoeducation, relaxation, affective expression and regulation, cognitive coping, trauma narrative development and processing, gradual exposure, joint parent/child sessions, and enhancing future development (Cary & McMillen, 2011). TF-CBT has an extensive history and many variations. Clinicians utilize a number of other cognitive behavior treatments that have been adapted to meet the needs of traumatized children (Cary, & McMillen, 2012; Smith et al., 2007). While there are a number of cognitive behavior treatments, TF-CBT has received the highest classification rating for supported and effective treatment from many studies (Cary, & McMillen, 2012; Kauffman Best Practices Project, 2004).
Trauma is an experience or situation that can be continuous. It is emotionally painful and distressing, and these type of feelings can overwhelm an individual's ability to cope, leaving an individual powerless. Clients should then be provided education on social development, what healthy social development is, what healthy relationships are and begin to practice relationship building. It is imperative that clients with social development issues practice learning to relax, self-soothe, express and manage feelings appropriately while finding closure with their traumatic experiences (Knight, 2015). At a mezzo level social workers can conduct social action by having a therapeutic trauma group counseling and therapeutic recreational activities within a community. A neighborhood that may be high in crime can cause trauma, and the trauma can be recurring stimuli placed on the residents such as violence (experiencing or witnessing), deplorable environmental conditions, gang activity, and much more. Advocacy for policy change, accountability, and enforcement is a macro level action that can take place to address combating childhood trauma for the prevention of poor social development. At the Martin Pollak Project, Inc in Baltimore, MD trauma informed practice is important. The agency has held numerous training on trauma informed practice. The agency has policies geared toward trauma informed practice and discusses the different traumatic experiences that clients may potentially suffer from that is shown in their personal
Trauma is an overwhelming experience that causes injury to a person's psychological state of mind. Complex trauma, on the other hand, is a term used by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). In which an increased emphasis is placed on the impact of multiple traumatizing events that occur during child development stages. As well as an increase in sensitivity of those traumas involving close personal relationships, such as caregivers and siblings (Forkey 3). Children exposed to complex trauma suffer from detrimental short-term and long-term effects on every aspect of their child development. These effects significantly impact their overall "quality of life," specifically affecting areas of cognitive functioning, neurobiological
...negatively affect a trauma survivor’s ability to maintain relationships with family members (Schwerdtfeger & Goff, 2007). The research in this area suggests that traumatized adults may be emotionally or functionally (or both) unavailable for their infant, increasing the likelihood of enhanced symptomatology within the child. Parents with a trauma history may “pass on” their trauma symptoms or reactions to their children, either through the children’s direct exposure to the parents’ symptoms or through the parents’ potentially traumatizing (e.g., abusive) behavior. Additionally, depression, anxiety, psychosomatic problems, aggression, guilt, and related issues may be common in the children of trauma survivors. These findings suggest the complexity of understanding the effects of trauma that may impact family members across generations (Schwerdtfeger & Goff, 2007).
With my past social work experience I understand that trauma can affect many people in different ways. Traumatic life experiences can vary with everyone and their way of coping and reacting. I worked a children services for about two years. I have been able to witness the effects of trauma on a lot of the children I worked with. For example, I had to remove 5 children from their mother. Their mother was using meth at the time leaving the oldest child, who was thirteen years old, taking care of the youngest. The mother was in an abusive relationship with their father. The father was very emotionally abusing by threatening the kids and mother. Removing the children from their mother was a traumatic life experience.
There are several domains that must be considered when treating a survivor of child abuse: the need for safety and trust, sense of belonging, protection from perceived or actual threats, facing the defendant in court, prevention of revictimization, and empowerment (Sawyer & Judd, 2012). Davis, 2005, states that “children terrorized through sexual abuse, neglect, physical abuse, or wartime atrocities may suffer from lasting wounds, nightmares, depression, and troubled adolescence involving substance abuse, binge eating, or aggression.” Victims of child abuse need to regain their sense of control over their lives. Experiencing healthy relationships, being nurtured by adults and helping them to learn resilience are all interventions that have been well-documented (Sawyer & Judd, 2...
Childhood Trauma is defined as “The experience of an event by a child that is emotionally painful or distressful, which often results in lasting mental and physical effects.” (The National Institute of Mental Health). Childhood trauma is an epidemic that seems to be running its way throughout the world. Childhood trauma is a worldwide problem that can affect anyone and everyone. People tend to just try and help the problems that occur due to the childhood trauma, but not the problem itself. Many of these issues will also follow the child into their adult years and will cause negative effects. This paper will discuss the negative outcomes for a child who suffers from childhood trauma, and the negative outcomes that can follow them into adulthood.
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
Did you know that 90% of weight lost doesn't come from weight lifting or cardio? It comes from everything in your diet. A personal trainer Alex Velasco once told me you can?t outtrain a bad diet. After comparing UTRGV, Texas Tech, and Kingsville A&M university based on my criteria of being close to home, tuition cost, and a knowledgeable program, UTRGV would be the best to help me pursue a career in personal training. I chose UTRGV because it is close to home, the tuition cost, and program is better compare to my other choices.
According to the American Psychological Association, trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event. Some terrible events that happen all too often are rape, natural disasters or an accident. Immediately following the event shock and denial are likely to occur, but in the long-term flashbacks, unpredictable emotions and troubled relationships can arise. Defining emotional trauma on a child. Emotional trauma in a child can be created by bullying, emotional abuse, death of loved ones, separation from parent, or chaos and dysfunction in the household. Child symptoms of trauma can be very similar to depression symptoms. They can over sleep or sleep to little, unexplained anger, trouble focusing, obsessive worrying and some anxiety. How a child experiences an event and how it’s handled by those around him have an effect on how traumatizing it can be, notes Dr. Jerry Bubrick (Child Mind Institute , 2017). People grieve at different speeds and the way the child grieves is not the correct indicator on how the child will cope later. Defining physical trauma on a child. Physical trauma on a child is considered non-accidental or the cause of physical injury. Some households that suffer from alcoholism/substance abuse and anger issues have higher occurrences of child abuse as compared to households without according to psychology today. Sometimes kids that are abused are unaware that they are being abused and are victims of child
Throughout the course of one’s lifetime, there are countless events that shape the personality, actions and mentality of that individual. Some of these events will affect the individual in a positive way allowing great life opportunities, while other events will unfortunately affect the individual in a negative way which can lead to disorders. Among the various events that can affect a person, one of the most common occurrences that some children witness early on in their lives that deeply affect their long-term mental health is being a witness to domestic violence. Research and observations that were studied revealed that there are multiple factors that can contribute to a child witnessing domestic violence. The more categories that the child falls into, the more likely they are to develop mental health issues later on in their life (Meltzer, Doos, Vostanis, Ford, and Goodman, 2009). The research conducted by Meltzer et al. (2009), was used to study the factors that were intertwined with domestic violence, as well as to better understand the needs of children who have witnessed the violence at a young age.