The Effect of Childhood Trauma on Brain Development

1043 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Impact of child abuse on academic performance

According to the Center for Disease Control, one in every three girls and one in every five boys are sexually abused by an adult at some time during childhood. Child abuse is a vicious cycle. After a child is abused it puts a deterrent on his or her ability to succeed in life. Examples of this are adults who were abused as children are twice as likely to become abusers themselves. The majority of people in prisons were abused as children. It is no wonder why childhood trauma has such a horrible impact on a person’s personality and brain. Trauma is a serious consideration in special education. When a child is exposed to a traumatic event, such as abuse, neglect or death, it can have a lifelong effect on their mental health. Although there are numerous effects followed by childhood trauma the brain chemistry of neurotransmitters is most affected.

First a person might ask what neurotransmitters are. A perfect example is a lock and a key. Neurotransmitters are keys and each one activates different receptors (locks). Today there is known to be sixty chemicals that play a role in transferring information throughout the brain and body, each of which differently effect thought, feeling, and behavior. During childhood is when a person is most impressionable. Therefore when a child has suffered any physical, sexual, or emotional abuse these instances play a major role on the connections to their brain and the way that person will react to any given situation. If a child was frequently abused their brain would continuously be in high stress alert. According to The Healing Center- On Line, studies on the physiological effects of trauma have found profound and substantial effects within multiple interconnected neurobiological syst...

... middle of paper ...

...rth a lot of effort to secure the damaged connections of their brain. After the trauma the person could be haunted by nightmares or constantly bothered by their inability to recall the incident fully, due to the damaged hippocampus. Trauma is as an event more overwhelming than a person ordinarily would be expected to encounter. Therefore the individual would suffer more than a few effects including eternal change such as thought process, inability to learn properly, difficulty trusting people, difficulty in socializing, and basically an inability to live their life to the fullest without distraction. If someone knew a child in danger of abuse they should call 1800-4-A-child. The longer the child is traumatized the greater the effects will be on the chemistry of their brain, and the less chance they have of overcoming the damage in order to live a life of normalcy.

Show More
Related

  • Effects Of Complex Trauma

    1706 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics: An Intervention for Early Childhood Neglect

    1288 Words  | 3 Pages

    Perry, B., (2006). Applying principles of neurodevelopment to clinical work with maltreated and traumatized children: The neurosequential model of therapeutics. Working with traumatized youth in child welfare, 27-52.

    Read More

  • 12 Core Concept Paper

    1476 Words  | 3 Pages

    Reviewing the 12 Core Concepts of the National Child Trauma Stress Network, James is suffering from three of the 12 concepts. Number 1 core concept, Traumatic experience are inherently complex. Traumatic experiences are inherently complex no experience are the same varying degrees of objective life threat, physical violation, witnessing of an injury or death. The victim perceives their surroundings and decides what is best for them now safety and self-protection. Number 4 core concept, A child or adolescent can exhibit an extensive range of reactions to suffering and loss. Number 9 core concept, the developmental neurobiology triggers a youth’s reactions to traumatic experience. In this paper, we will be covering another trauma that affects the social worker or case worker who works on these cases of

    Read More

  • Domestic Violence In The Film 'Good Will Hunting'

    506 Words  | 2 Pages

    1.When a youth goes through suffering (ex. domestic violence, abusive relationships, etc.), numerous complications emerge throughout their development. They may be consumed by irritability, suspicion, and trust issues and have behavioural patterns, including paranoia, dishonesty, and impulsive behaviour. Others develop personality disorders similar to PTSD. The long-term effects of child abuse are also shown through the movie character Will Hunting who suffered child abuse in foster care and now is an impulsive man who refuses to reach out for help. Although, there are exceptions for negative development in those who have experienced childhood trauma.

    Read More

  • Videotape Don Delillo Summary

    798 Words  | 2 Pages

    Others believe that the children are too young to understand the trauma that is occuring to allow it to affect their lives and minds. It is common for adults to mistake the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder in children, such as hyperactivity and lack of attention, as ADHD due to their closed minds. Dr. Nicole Brown has done research on misbehaving pediatric patients and why despite, “referring them to behavioral therapy and starting them on stimulants, it was hard to get the symptoms under control” (Ruiz, 2014). This quote shows that when the children with these symptoms were diagnosed with the heritable brain disorder, ADHD, and given treatment accordingly, they did not respond as they should have.

    Read More

  • Trauma Experience And Healing Experience

    1249 Words  | 3 Pages

    The results of trauma can be physical, emotional, cognitive, social, economic, and spiritual. The impact of trauma is layered in the neurological and endocrine system, affecting all parts of the body and mind. Life force energy can become blocked. There might be physical injury as well as chronic pain syndromes or immune problems that occur from long term stress. Emotions or unmet needs can become stuck, leaving the person trapped in patterns of thought, emotion, or behavior. Trauma also makes individuals more vulnerable to further stressors.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Childhood Trauma

    1585 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Trauma In Social Work

    623 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Sexual Abuse and Young Children

    1756 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sexual abuse negatively affects a young child’s neurological development. It causes toxic stress, a type of stress which children are unable to manage by themselves. 7 According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, exposure to toxic stress during early childhood can impair and disrupt development of brain circuits, which “can cause an individual to develop a low threshold for stress, thereby becoming overly reactive to adverse experiences throughout life.”8 High levels of stress hormones can also affect the child’s immune system and cause “cog...

    Read More

  • Trauma

    762 Words  | 2 Pages

    Trauma that is experienced in childhood has more impact on the developing brain. According to the article, “Research in humans and animals has shown that negative childhood experiences (NCE) can have long-term effects on the structure and function of the brain” (Duncan et. al, 2015). This is due to the neurodevelopment of the brain. Neural development

    Read More

  • The Effects Of Trauma On Children

    1082 Words  | 3 Pages

    Children experience decreased development in the left brain when traumatic events occur (Network, n.d.). Imagine being a child and growing up with these types of events occurring. A traumatic event in a child’s life can cause a child to experience a long lasting negative effect. Life events are happening everywhere and more often in the lives of children (Understanding Child Traumatic Stress, n.d.). Trauma can cause them to do three things. First, they try to see what the danger is and how serious it is. Secondly there are strong emotional and physical reactions. Thirdly they attempt to come up with what to do that can help them with the danger. Traumatic events can cause a child to develop differently, which effects the young child stage,

    Read More

  • Miss Havisham In Charles Dickens Great Expectations

    1908 Words  | 4 Pages

    Typically when traumatic occurs,”Problems such as: feeling alone, feeling angry, or the feeling to create angry outbursts will arise” (Post-Traumatic 1). With there being a substantial amount of trauma occurring throughout his childhood, this would affect the way that he would function as an adult. If he did not have all of these crazy issues arise throughout such an important time, then there

    Read More

  • Early Childhood Trauma Essay

    578 Words  | 2 Pages

    Neuroimaging shows the growth of important brain structures, and how the brain responds to emotional stimuli. Brain development in infancy and early childhood lays the foundation for all future development. When experiences are traumatic, the pathways getting the most use are those that are responding to the trauma. Due to this formation of other pathways needed for adaptive behavior are disrupted. Trauma in ages 0-6 years can result in disrupted attachment, cognitive delays, and impaired emotional regulation. Early childhood trauma has been shown to increase the risk of substance use disorders in adolescents, and is also shown to be associated with the onset, course and severity for this population (Boston University). There have been numerous research studies done on children’s’ brains, that have found that toxic stress physically damages a child’s developing brain. According to findings of the ACE study, these changes in brain structure and development during the formative years of early childhood, have been linked to later substance use disorders in adolescents

    Read More

  • The Effects Of Childhood Trauma On Health And Physical Health

    901 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Child Maltreatment

    2804 Words  | 6 Pages

    ...l parents as soon as the home is safe again. For some cases recurrent maltreatment occurs when the child is reunified with the biological parents or original caregivers. Children who are abused can display behavioral problems which can impact many areas in their life. They tend to act out at school and have low academic performance (Webb, 2007). They may also internalize their behavior by becoming depressed and showing symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Child maltreatment not only affects the child that is being abused, but the family system as well. Some acts of child abuse can be prosecuted with criminal charges which could result in jail time and other serious punishments. Children show the affects of their maltreatment throughout their life through their behaviors. Child abuse is a serious problem that needs to be prohibited by all agencies.

    Read More

More about The Effect of Childhood Trauma on Brain Development

Open Document