Jane Evans Analysis

Terr, L. C. (1991). Childhood traumas: an outline and overview. Am J Psychiatry, 1, 48.

Signs of repetition include nightmares and flashbacks. The authors then discuss trauma resolution. They make the important point that children’s trauma must be discussed by direct disclosure in order for them to resolve their issues. Simple play therapy, these authors believe, is not adequate to do this.

Larry Watson suggests that traumatic experiences transform children into adults, and that disturbing experiences lead to changes of mind, growth in morals, and an emerging sense of adulthood.

Childhood and adolescence is a crucial time for humans- a time full of physical, emotional, and cognitive development. Upon observing the significant impact that trauma induced stress can have on adults following time in combat or an injury, when adults have fully matured in all areas, it raises the question of what influence post-traumatic stressors can have on development in children. This issue was so significant that in the DSM-5, the psychologists introduced a new, and separate, section of criteria for PTSD that specifically relates to the preschool subtype, or those individuals six years and younger. The first age specific sub-type for this disorder is important due to the rising number of studies and cases of PTSD in children.

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.

The effects of trauma can be looked at into two separate categories however, they both are interrelated: neurodevelopment and psychosocial development. From the onset of birth, we are born with 100 billion neurons, much more than we will ever need and much more than we will ever have. Between these neurons, trillions of synapses are created. Depending upon the early life experiences in relation to attachments with caregivers and our environment, some synapses will be strengthened whilst others will be discarded.

Jane Elliott, international famous teachers, lecturers, diversity coach, as well as the national mental health association outstanding awards winner, exposed the bias and prejudice, it is an irrational class system based on pure random factors. If you think that doesn't apply to you. ... You're in a rude awakening. In response to the assassination of Martin Luther King jr., 30 years ago, Jane Elliott designed the controversial blue eyes/brown eyes campaign. This is now famous, according to the participants' eye color, to refer to participants as inferior or outstanding, and to expose them to the experience of a few. Every person who touches on Jane Elliott's work, whether through lectures, seminars or video, has been dramatically affected.

Dr. Bruce Perry, MD, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural sciences at the Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. Dr. Perry is also the senior fellow of The Child Trauma Academy, a not for profit organization based out of Houston, Texas. With the assistance of Co- Author Maia Szalavitz, an award-winning journalist with a specialization in Neuroscience. They worked together to co write “The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog”, an up to date source of information for individuals interested in childhood trauma. I found the book full of valuable knowledge and stories regarding childhood trauma and experiences, that I feel would be a great resource for anyone in the Human Service Work, Social Work or Teaching profession.

Childhood is a time for playdates and learning, a time for big dreams and imaginary adventures. Safety and security should not be questions that linger in uncertainty. However, this is not the case for many children across the globe. Thousands of children from all walks of life each day are faced with unspeakable horror and must deal with the resulting trauma from then on. However, in children, managing this trauma takes a different toll on the mind and heart than it does in adults. While the type of trauma may vary in pervasiveness across countries, trauma occurring in childhood has the ability to cause long term damage to the growing neurological functioning in the brain and negatively influence children’s spiritual development, wounding

In a generation of hopelessness, adolescents seek a purpose for their existence. They seek refugee from violence, abuse and maltreatment. The overwhelming pressure opens the door for instant gratification in drugs, alcohol, sexual activity, and fail to make appropriate adjustments in compromising circumstances. There is a correlation between traumatic experiences and adolescent cognitive development. A traumatic experience can alter an adolescent’s neural system and adversely affect the latter stages of brain development. Working with survivors of traumatic events requires an understanding of maladaptive

When considering the case of Amarika, core concept one of the NCTSN Core Curriculum on Childhood Trauma seems particularly pertinent. It explains that traumatic experiences are inherently complex because they are made up of various traumatic events (The 12 core concepts, 2016). While it is tempting to allow one event to become the main focus, it is important to keep in mind that trauma is multifaceted. When the facts of Amarika’s case are view through the lens of the first core concept, it creates a better awareness of the complexity of her trauma.

Almost anyone that has had the misfortune of enduring an early childhood traumatic experience will readily admit that it has had lasting effects on his life. A traumatic occurrence at an early time in one's life will not only change the person's way of thinking, but it will also alter the relationships that this person has with certain people, places, or things. Normally comfortable settings will suddenly become extremely uncomfortable. People that the child was once at great ease with unexpectedly are transformed into completely different people in the child's eyes. For an adult, traumatic experiences are easier to handle, at least in my opinion. But for a child, going through a tragic event could completely destroy the type of

Childhood and adolescence are important times in a child’s life as it is during these periods that they undergo important developmental changes. When a child or adolescent experiences disaster there are effects on social, biological, psychological, psychosocial, and cognitive development. Many children, when faced with adversity, are capable of adapting successfully, however, studies show that children who have experienced trauma are likely to display difficulties in various developmental domains, including emotional and behavioral symptoms, and difficulties in cognitive and socio-emotional functioning (Kilmer & Gil-Rivas, 2010). The longitudinal study being conducted focuses on the development of people who lived in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, a natural disaster that caused unparalleled desolation for many living along the Central Gulf Coast (Osofsky et al., 2009). Throughout this paper, the effects of disaster on development is analyzed based on the experiences of Patrick.

There are many types of trauma that can effect an adolescent and without the proper treatment of the traumatic event the adolescent can have difficulty adapting and developing into adulthood. Kathleen J. Moroz, of the Vermont Agency of Human Services, defines trauma as a physical or psychological threat or assault to a child’s physical integrity, sense of self, safety of survival or to the physical safety of another person significant to the child. She goes on to list the types of trauma a child may be exposed to. Abuse of every kind, domestic violence, natural disasters, abandonment, serious illness or an accident are just a few traumatic events that can effect the development of a child. (2) When these events occur as an acute event

Judith Lewis Herman’s Trauma and Recovery provides not only greater understanding of how a traumatic event may defined but also the ways in which the effects of the experience may have a significantly repressing effect on the present and future self. Traumatic events are impressing on the self because they overwhelm the conventional emotional and physical perceptions that humanity has adjusted and modified their selves to. As traumatic events generally involve threats to the emotional and physical self, they differ from common misfortunes as they confront the victim with the feeling of extreme terror and helplessness that in result causes the individual to perceive the experience as one that was out of their control. As Herman reiterates, according to the Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry, “The common denominator of psychological trauma is a feeling of “intense fear, helplessness, loss of control, and threat of annihilation” (Herman 104). However, it is the response to the traumatic event in the emotional or conscious self that may differ from one another as there are three differing reactions to the terror factor of trauma: hyper-arousal, intrusion, and disconnection. Throughout this essay the work of Judith Lewis Herman’s Trauma and Recovery as well as Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower will be utilized to illustrated the compromising effects a traumatic experience such as childhood sexual abuse may have on the development of a young teen and the ways in