Childhood trauma research essay PDF

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Last Name 1 Student Teacher English 111 8 July 2019 Changing life Trauma means a deeply disturbing experience. You could say it can be distressing. When people think about trauma in general, they automatically think about psychological trauma. It can differ from sexual abuse, neglect to a death of a loved one. For example: a child experiencing the death of a pet. For children who may not have experienced situations like that, it can be traumatic. They probably didn’t learn what happens when an animal dies. A lot of parents will then have to determine if their child can handle such information. Between choosing whether to tell their child the truth or to make up a story for their sake, a lot of people tend to lean towards the latter. For some reason we see children as innocent people, that need to be protected from the harsh truth. There’s a reason to why we do this. Trauma experienced during childhood can affect the person more than if they were an adult. Adults have the capacity to overcome obstacles more easily and can handle more difficult situations. Children on the other hand, need help to work through issues that appear during their childhood. Their brain isn’t fully developed yet and they are more exposed to outer influences. They can be left with mental health issues, that can be problematic later in life. In an article of “The British Journal of Psychiatry”, called “The Aberfan disaster: 33-year follow up of survivors” it says: “Trauma that occurs in childhood can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the symptoms of which can persist into adult life (Morgan et al. 10).” They spoke with and interviewed the survivors of the incident in 1966, where “a coal slag heap

Last Name 2 collapsed on to a junior school in Aberfan, south Wales, killing 116 children (10).” By the results of this study, it can be said that the effects of a trauma can affect people even when they grow up. “19 of the 41 survivors had experienced PTSD at some point since the disaster, compared with 12 controls of 72 people that went to another junior school (10)”, those kids didn’t experience the traumatic event personally. They did hear about it, as the schools were in the same city. From the statistics it can be seen that more people have experienced PTSD once in their life that were there, than the other group. This isn’t the only study that tried to find out if childhood trauma links to mental health problems later on in life. “Exposure to trauma in childhood is associated with both psychiatric and physical problems for decades afterward, according to new research presented here today at the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Annual Meeting (American 1).” At this meeting, “the Global Psychiatric Epidemiology Group at Columbia University-New York State Psychiatric Institute (1)” who carried out the research, gave information about the “study of individuals exposed to the 9/11 attack as children (1).” Their goal was to find out if there was a difference between children and adults who had experienced the 9/11 attack in their mental health condition. After 14 years of the attack, investigation found out that “ individuals who had a direct exposure as children have higher rates of psychiatric disorders, higher rates of physical disorders and higher rates of physical-psychiatric comorbidities than the matched control group (1).” Meaning that based on the outcome, it can be said that children who were affected by this traumatic experience, had a greater risk of having complications with mental health. In the statistics of this investigation it appears that “individuals with direct exposure to 9/11 were more likely to have had a psychiatric disorder in the past year, compared to those not exposed (36% vs. 28%), lifetime physical health condition (27% vs. 11%) and lifetime physical health condition (27% vs.

Last Name 3 11%) (1).” Trauma can be experienced in many different ways. Some situations can affect multiple people. That’s usually when it’s a situation, where it involves multiple communities around the world. Some are more personalized for one or a few people. In a case study by Kaplow et al., a situation is explained where a child experienced a traumatic event at an early age and how it affected her when she grew up. At 19 months Rachel’s mom was shot and killed by her own father. In the years after, “she exhibited a number of physiological and psychological difficulties that appeared to be a direct result of the trauma (Kaplow et al. 363).” Rachel had to get treated multiple times to work through it. Even though she didn’t exactly remember what had happened when she was little, her mind somehow had been affected by the situation. That’s why she had problems with functioning in several areas. This case is a good example of showing how a traumatic event can affect a child. All three of these situations are examples of how trauma experienced during childhood can affect a person then and later in life. In that stage of life, children’s brains aren’t fully developed yet. “Experiences gathered in childhood frame the course of life of an individual and help in creating a vision (Jagyasi 1).” Every person in a child’s life, influences it. A child needs positive emotions and love. According to Jagyasi, a child has a difficult time trying to understand negative behavior towards them. “Perhaps due to this, adverse events get deeply ingrained in the brain sowing seeds of unhappiness which crops up as depression in adulthood (1).” If this happens, it can have a huge impact on their life forward. “Negative childhood experiences increase the risk of depression, suicide, substance addiction, sleep disturbance, obesity, diabetes and heart attack in adulthood (1).” A lot of mental health complications have been linked to childhood trauma nowadays. For instance, “in a large group data study by the Canadian

Last Name 4 Community Health Survey - Mental Health for Men and Women in 2012 comprising of 22, 559 adults (both men and women) showed a higher tendency of suicide among adults having a traumatic childhood (2).” In a lot of cases, there is a chance people will feel the consequences of trauma in their childhood later in life. But does that mean that everyone who has experienced trauma in their childhood, will have mental issues? Probably not. People differ from each other. Some can handle more while others may have more problems dealing with problems. It’s possible that a few children will not know how to deal with situations, or they don’t get the help they need because they’re scared to ask for it or because they want to fix it for themselves. From this group, some children find it easier to push the emotions down and not pay attention to it. This can cause a problem later on. It’s possible they can get triggered by something or someone. A small thing, smell or person can distress someone and slip them into a state of mind, where traumatic memories come to the surface that they pressed down for a long time. This can cause problems like depression or anxiety. Childhood trauma is a big deal. In the society we live in, experiences with trauma occurs more frequently. We acknowledge it more now, because a lot of people are starting to tell their stories or seek help. But it wasn’t always like this. Because of studies and better technology, we now have more information about the consequences of being exposed to trauma during childhood, what it can feel like and what kind of problems it can create later on. Knowing this, we can help more people overcome their trauma’s. Because of cases like the ones explained here, it’s easier to determine what kind of symptoms we have to look out for and know instantly if people are dealing with mental health issues. Once we know what the problem is, we can then help them. This way we have the power in our hands to not let trauma or any other situation

Last Name 5 control our lives.

Works cited "American Psychiatric Association: Long-Term Physical-Psychiatric Effects of Childhood

Last Name 6 Trauma." Targeted News Service, May 19, 2019. ProQuest, http://ezproxy.cpcc.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/2227370880? accountid=10008. "Effects of Childhood Trauma can Continue into Adulthood." Nursing Standard (through 2013), vol. 17, no. 48, 2003, pp. 10. ProQuest, http://ezproxy.cpcc.edu/login? url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/219839619?accountid=10008. Jagyasi, Prem. "Is Childhood Trauma the Reason Behind Your Depression?" ProQuest, Nov 21, 2018, http://ezproxy.cpcc.edu/login? url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/2138536490?accountid=10008. Kaplow, Julie B., et al. "The Long-Term Consequences of Early Childhood Trauma: A Case Study and Discussion." Psychiatry, vol. 69, no. 4, 2006, pp. 362-75. ProQuest, http://ezproxy.cpcc.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/220667409? accountid=10008....