Early Childhood Trauma

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

Original Thesis Statement: Incorporating art-based activities and techniques effectively develops coping skills, self expression, open communication, and begins the healing process for children who have experienced trauma.

When I was five years old, my mom told me that there were some children who didn’t have moms. I was shocked, and told my mother frankly that I’d be their mom. Caring for children with early trauma has been the driving passion of my life. When I was six and again when I was eight, my parents adopted children from Vietnam. Having siblings who were born and orphaned in another country put a very personal face for me on human rights and child welfare issues around the world. I’ve spent the last four years working for the International Foster Care program at Catholic Charities Fort

A child’s sense of self as separate from the world is formulated early in development. Children exposed to early trauma, especially by a primary care giver, develop a distorted sense of the self, others, and the world. When exposed to trauma, children become overwhelmed and are unable to effectively self-regulate thus leading to a disjointed sense of self. They have a tendency to lose hope and expect that life will be dangerous thus challenging their ability to survive (Terr, 1992). Survival becomes the predominant drive for children exposed to trauma and their focus becomes toward responding and adapting to a potentially threatening environment. Feelings of trust and the sense of self become compromised as resources are allocated toward coping with threats. Traumatized children experience guilt and low self-esteem and perceive themselves as unlovable and unworthy of protection or love (Johnson, 1985, 1987).

Even though research proves that childhood traumas are buried and/or have the ineffectiveness of being buried, memories serve as a trigger for trauma. Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Dissociative Disorder (DD) greatly explains why Ned acts the way he does. For instance, Ned struggles with figuring out who he is as person currently. He is the son of a photographer and is an awkward teen that is a runner. The night when Greg and Ned met Brys, the druid, and Cadell in the middle of road, it hinted at the type of disorder Ned faces. Brys was annoyed with Greg’s unfiltered mouth, and snapped him back onto the concrete. Ned’s reaction to this action took place instantly. Ned automatically switched into a different emotional state he had

& Li, 2001). With the brain developing at its fastest rate in childhood, it is especially

In The Boy Who was Raised as a Dog author Bruce Perry demonstrates how understanding the brain’s inner workings and development can help bring traumatized children from heartbreak to hope, while always balancing that hope with caution. In his book Perry illustrates how empathy is vital to healthy child development. There has been a decrease in the amount of healthy adults involved in a child’s life than in decades before. Families are smaller, teacher to pupil ratio has increased, and so the number of human-to-human interactions where children are being taught and nurtured has suffered. If you are an adult who is involved with children in your daily life, parent, teacher, law enforcement, etc., and you know that a child has been exposed to something that is potentially traumatic the first thing you should be aware of is that not all traumatic events automatically lead to disastrous mental health outcomes. In fact the majority do well, but for these successful outcomes they do need your attention, support, and awareness. What makes children get better following a trauma is connection with other human beings. Connections to people who are kind, patient, present, but not necessarily psychologically insightful, is at the core of a successful therapeutic relationship.

In 2011-2012 the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) released staggering survey data on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) reporting that approximately 35 million U.S. children had experienced at least one or more childhood traumas (Stevens, 2013). If this data is valid, so far none refuted, this would mean that a high percentage of children are at risk for chronic disease and mental illness (Stevens, 2013). A direct link between childhood trauma and the adult onset of chronic disease, mental illness, violence and being a victim of violence was revealed from the center of disease control and prevention (CDC)’s adverse childhood experiences study(ACE) (Stevens, 2013).

Trauma is one of the many issues facing children of all ages today. Trauma can be defined as any negative experience that causes a child psychological or emotional stress or damage. Exposure to trauma can hinder development in many areas for children, including brain development, social development, and emotional development. The purpose of this study was to determine what impacts trauma-informed care practices had on students in a second grade classroom. Throughout the study all students had access to a calm corner, which is a place they could go if they were feeling overwhelming emotions. Students participated in daily morning community meetings. Students were also taught direct

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.

Norton, B. et al. (2011) "Somatic Expressions of Trauma in Experiential Play Therapy" in International Journal of Play Therapy, Vol. 20, No. 3, 138 152.

on preventing trauma in children, by giving them the physical and emotional attention they deserve.

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

The nature of early childhood adversity and trauma can be emotional, physical or sexual, with sexual abuse being the most commonly identified factor in almost all cases of people who have been diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder (du Plessis & Vesser, 2014; Sar & Ozturk, 2012). Furthermore , the sexual abuse if often incestuous which is also displayed in the case of one of the characters of the movie(Rose) that this discussion focused on, who was often sexually and physically abused by her brother Dale. However, as Spira(1996 cited in Harrison,n.d) notes, this is not the case in all instances of dissociative identity disorder, even if sexual abuse may be present in some cases, it is not always committed by a family member. Other

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.