Childhood Trauma Case Study

The client reported she was involved in a car accident in 2012 where her vehicle spun out of control. She denied she sustained any medical injuries. Stephanie reported she has experienced childhood trauma. Reportedly, when she was 8yoa her 12 year old cousin sexually molested her. She indicated, she informed her aunt, but was told not to say anything else about the incident. She also shared as an adult, her cousin whom molested prepositioned her to have sex with one of his friends. She stated she felt like a prostitute and a "piece of her had died." She further shared, she was raped by a male student, which resulted in a short term physically abusive relationship for four months. She stated she after they dissolved the relationship he admitted

In the case study by Ghosh-Ippen, Lieberman, and NCTSN Core Curriculum on Childhood Trauma Task Force (2012), Amarika is an 18-month-old girl who witnessed the shooting of her mother Makisha at a neighborhood park. Her mother survived the shooting, but was in the hospital for some time after to recover. Her grandmother, Marlene Lawrence, cared for Amarika. Mrs. Lawrence reported that Amarika was refusing to eat and having difficulty sleeping. This is when the social worker, Carla, was contacted to provide trauma intervention for Amarika.

It is clear that Mr. Martinez has experienced a significant number of traumatic events in his lifetime. The repeated abuse as a child coupled with the trauma he experienced as an adult would most certainly make Mr. Martinez susceptible to Complex PTSD. Although this synopsis doesn't detail Martinez's response to the traumas I assume that the events in his early childhood would have instilled feelings of fear and helplessness. I believe he would have had similar feelings from the combat-related trauma, torture by law enforcement, and the experience of being on death row. It is likely that the PTSD lead Martinez to commit acts that lead to his incarceration.

After reading, it is logical and makes sense that higher the amount of exposure to childhood trauma would affect someone later in life. These experiences have the ability to cause greater health issues because of it (Stevens, 2014). This aligns with my working knowledge of Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) research which I have learned from my mentor. This topic is big for her as she works with children and families in our communities for a living. She is aware of my past of being in foster care and has educated me how ACE research pertains to me. A while back she started naming off experiences, asking if I had them in my life, with the goal of educating me about how high my ACE score is and that it makes sense that I got cancer three years

As many as one in three females have experienced sexual abuse by the age of 18 (Russell, 1986). Many survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) experience negative psychological symptoms (Browne & Finkelhor, 1986; Kendall-Tackett, Williams, L. M., & Finkelhor, 1993). These women may later in life engage in relationships. The negative impact of sexual abuse could result in challenges faced by the relationship due to shame and difficulty with trust (Kochka & Carolan, 2002; MacIntosh & Johnson, 2008). CSA may also result in sexual challenges for the couple (Kochka & Carolan, 2002). Research has found that couples therapy can be of significance to the healing of the CSA survivor as well as functioning and growth in the relationship (Kochka &

Your introduction is very engaging and emphasizes the important role of communication after experiencing trauma. I believe your topic is very relatable because there is a sense of denial, seclusion, and dissociation that correlates with trauma and loss that many of us have experienced. Open communication within a family unit provides opportunities to express thoughts and feelings and develop appropriate coping strategies (Zambianchi & Bitti, 2014). In your intro you stated, "The impact childhood trauma has on our society and on children." As a suggestion, maybe you could expand on this statement or state specific impacts childhood trauma has on our society or on children. I love your examples of evidenced based interventions and how

Her research finds that, “Intimate partner violence is experienced by at least 1.3 million women each year, who make up 85 percent of the victims.” (McVay 4). Further stating that programs continue to be funded that are ineffective for these women that are experiencing the abuse. Shockingly Kristie also found a link between attachment and partner violence, showing that “…the influence of insecure parental attachment bonds creates an individual who often develops anxious adult romantic attachment patterns leading to a greater propensity to enter into a violent intimate relationship.” (McVay 4). Understanding that these predispositions occur in childhood is pivotal in understanding how these things blossom and continue to grow throughout life within a person’s character. That parent-child relationship plays a role into all other intimate relationships. In fact, “personality/behavior problems all stem from early developed attachment patterns.” (McVay 17). Analyzing adult attachment patterns showed why some people cling to violent intimate relationships as well. Proving that just as “…infants struggle with dissociation and rejection from their caregivers, so do adults suffer from separation from their intimate partners.((Feeney, 1999) Mcvay 19). Another important aspect is defining just what intimate partner violence (IPV) is. “(IPV) is perpetrated or threatened physical, sexual, psychological, emotional, financial, or stalking violence, which includes willful intimidation perpetrated by a current or former intimate partner against another.” (McVay 54). This proves that intimate partner violence is not only physical but also emotional. It is something that negatively affects the partner, it is hard to detect, and can affect anyone, sometimes even without them recognizing it. After her study, she found that if the relationship doesn’t pose extremely dangerous

An article written about the effects of sexual abuse in accordance with male victims, claims: “[t]hree perspectives of early family relationships and attachment theory, developmental psychopathology, and trauma theory provide a conceptual understanding as to why some victims are vulnerable to the effects of sexual abuse while others appear resilient to it.” Although the study's main objective is to understand the developmental effects of male CSA survivors, it also notes that the majority of the data collected about the psychological well being of the sample is also representative of female CSA survivors. In a similar study on the repercussions of sexual abuse in male victims, Scott Eastman depicts a table simply explaining the process of coping, or the problems tied to CSA. Much like a story line, there is a beginning a middle and an end after the initial incident, but not all survivors reach the stages of completion and often times face difficulties coping. In the middle stage of the process, is distraction, obsessive review. These are symptoms tied to PTSD, defined as a disorder which a traumatic event causes flashbacks, nightmares, and uncontrollable thoughts about the event. It may reasonably be concluded that the obsessive thoughts are tied to PTSD because reviewing the traumatic experience may give the illusion of understanding to the survivor. In the final Stage of the process, following acceptance, is

Abusive Relationships is defined as the “systematic pattern of behaviors in a relationship that are used to gain and/or maintain power and control over another” (Huston, 2010). The forms of abuse range from emotional to financial and each has an everlasting effect on the victim. An abusive relationship also has a discrete effect on the mind of the victim; they experience many psychology difficulties pre and post the abuse. Yet despite all these catastrophic consequences to both the mind and body caused by the constant abuse, many of the victims tend to stay in the relationships. The victim’s deal with emotional challenges on a daily basis, they are wounded on both a mental and psychical level, and have to deal with the constant pressure

Wuornos also had low intelligence and was not an academic achiever. She was a high school drop out by grade 9, with an IQ in the low 80s. She repeatedly took and failed the aptitude test required for joining the armed forces, which is part of the reason she kept working as a prostitute rather than engaging in legitimate work. (The monster in all of us – when victims become perpetrators.

Childhood traumas (i.e, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and mental abuse) have been proven to have significant negative effects on the development and mental state of a person (Lochner, Seedat, Allgulander, Kidd, Stein, & Gerdner, 2010). Countless amounts of treatments and program are in place in an attempt to reduce the effects of these maltreatments during childhood and to reduce the risk of future psychological disorders (Maniglio, 2013). This paper will argue,

The effects of IVP do not have to be permeant, if they are recognized and treated correctly, there are ways to mediate any damage that has been done. We know that that our brains are able to repair itself as long as we receive the correct treatments. We know that therapy today is able to physically impact the structure of our brains, allowing new pathways to be built, which in turn allows the brain begin to function the way is supposed to. Recognizing the symptoms of trauma as early as possible is imperative to the recovery of the traumatized person (Bedenoch, 2008, pp 27-29).

Jane is a nine year old girl who has been brought in to therapy by her mother for stealing, being destructive, lying, behaving aggressively toward her younger siblings, and acting cruelly to animals. Jane has also been acting clingy and affectionate toward strangers.

Adults who suffer from social development issues stemming from childhood trauma are at risk due to their inability to establish healthy relationships, convey feelings, thoughts, and emotions in a healthy manner, and they can lack the ability of self motivation and self growth. Trauma, including one-time, multiple, or long-lasting repetitive events, affects everyone differently, some individuals exhibit negative social outcomes while others are resilient and have positive learning experience from their traumatic experience. The way that an adult responds to past traumatic experience when it resurfaces indicates the toll it took on their decision making process throughout their life until the point of resurface.

Childhood trauma contributes to the development of disorders later in life. Several psychological disorders may be caused by childhood trauma. These disorders may include: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, addiction, borderline personality disorder, and dissociative identity disorder.