Research Question??????
”How does childhood trauma cause long-term adverse effects?”.
What is trauma?
Trauma is the lasting emotional response that often results from living through a distressing event.
TRAUMATIC EVENTS? Neglect and psychological, physical, or sexual abuse
Signs of Child Traumatic Stress
The signs of traumatic stress are different in each child. Young children react differently than older children.
Preschool Children
Fearing separation from parents or caregivers
Crying and/or screaming a lot
Eating poorly and losing weight
Having nightmares
Elementary School Children
Becoming anxious or fearful
Feeling guilt or shame
Having a hard time concentrating
Having difficulty sleeping
Middle and High School Children
Feeling depressed or alone
Developing eating disorders and self-harming behaviors
Beginning to abuse alcohol or drugs
Becoming sexually active
For some children, these reactions can interfere with daily life and their ability to function and interact with others.
Impact of Child Traumatic Stress
The impact of child traumatic stress can last well beyond childhood. In fact, research shows that child trauma survivors are more likely to have:
Learning problems, including lower grades and more suspensions and expulsions
Increased use of health services, including mental health services
Increased involvement with the child welfare and juvenile justice systems
Long term health problems, such as diabetes and heart disease
Does socioeconomic status play a role in childhood trauma?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8670566/#:~:text=Childhood%20trauma%20was%20more%20likely,(r%20%3D%20%E2%88%920.05).
Does gender affect the way trauma is interpreted?
How does trauma affect the brain?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3181836/
What are the main types of CHILDHOOD trauma?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3583768/#:~:text=In%20univariate%20analyses%2C%20all%205,aggressive%20behaviors%20reported%20in%20adulthood.
PTSD???
Research shows adverse childhood experiences have long-lasting impacts on the brain and body
Trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences
Trauma occurs when frightening events or situations overwhelm someone’s ability to cope with what has happened. Accidents, crimes, or natural disasters are some examples of these events. Trauma can also happen with ongoing exposure to harmful conditions. Traumatic events may include:
Physical, sexual, and emotional abuse
Emotional and physical neglect
Living with a family member with mental health or substance use disorders
Witnessing domestic violence
Sudden separation from a loved one
Poverty
Racism and discrimination
Violence in the community
https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/publication/trauma-adverse-childhood-experiences
What Are Adverse Childhood Experiences?
In 1998 Kaiser Permanente and the CDC published a study that completely transformed the way doctors thought about childhood trauma. Known as the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACE Study), it showed the link between childhood trauma and negative outcomes later in life was much stronger than previously thought.
The study concerned a list of 10 “adverse childhood experiences,” or potentially traumatic events that occur before age 17, ranging from violence and neglect to substance abuse in the home. The most surprising finding was that these experiences weren’t just tied to issues like anxiety, depression, and PTSD later in life; they also correlated with health problems as wide-ranging as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and even fractures and burns, not to mention negative effects on income and education attainment.
But why do these traumatic experiences have such long-lasting effects, and why do those effects seem to manifest in so many different ways?
“The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study.” CDC and Kaiser Permanente. 1998. Accessed via Web. .
Harris, Nadine Burke. The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity.
Harris, Nadine Burke. “How Childhood Trauma Affects Health across a Lifetime.” TED, Sept. 2014. Web. .
Kelly, Vicky. “The Paradox of Trauma-informed Care.” YouTube. TEDxWilmington, 08 Sept. 2014. Web. .
Lubit, Roy. “Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Children.” Medscape. Web. .
“An Unhealthy Dose of Stress.” Center for Youth Wellness, Web. .
In her book The Deepest Well, California Surgeon General Nadine Burke Harris writes, “Twenty years of medical research has shown that childhood adversity literally gets under our skin, changing people in ways that can endure in their bodies for decades.” She says trauma can trigger changes in hormonal production, and even alter the way cells replicate.
And in a 2014 TED Talk, Harris explains why that happens. Imagine you’re in the forest, and you see a bear. This danger activates your brain’s fight or flight response, flooding your system with the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol in case you need to defend yourself or take off running. This is helpful to protect you from the bear.
But what if the threat isn’t a bear?
What if the threat is a parent, and they come home every night? Children who have grown up surrounded by traumatic experiences have their fight or flight responses activated over and over again, and this takes a serious toll on their brains. The frequent release of adrenaline and cortisol causes the body to have trouble regulating the process, leading to overproduction even in times when no threat is present.
As the Center for Youth Wellness documents, this constant stress on a developing brain has major consequences, which vary depending on where in the brain the harm is concentrated. A damaged amygdala can lead to increased anxiety and fearfulness in a traumatized child. A damaged prefrontal cortex can result in difficulty focusing, poor memory, and difficulty with critical thinking. And a damaged hippocampus can mean impaired memory and mood control.
These extensive physiological effects translate into psychological and emotional differences, too. According to Dr. Roy Lubit, traumatized children may experience recurring nightmares, sleep problems, hyper-vigilance, concentration problems, persistent negative emotional states, a loss of interest in important activities, and feelings of detachment. It’s the cumulative effect of all of these extra difficulties that researchers suspect may connect childhood trauma with the wide range of negative outcomes the ACE Study discovered
https://kinshipunited.org/the-devastating-effects-of-trauma-on-orphans/
https://www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth/ptsd.html
https://www.nctsn.org/sites/default/files/resources/resource-guide/understanding_impact_trauma_urban_poverty_family_systems.pdf
The Role of Childhood Neglect and Childhood Poverty in Predicting Mental Health, Academic Achievement and Crime in Adulthood
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7197378/
