Domestic Violence Effects On Children

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Violence within a family takes a toll on all of its members; however, the family’s young children are commonly the most affected. Often, lesser hurtful events possesses the power to traumatize a small child than it would to traumatize an older child, adolescent, or adult (Cozolino, 2010). Cozolino (2010) suggested that “mini-traumas;” such as a child having a mother who is depressed, becoming separated from the family, or lives in a tumultuous home; can traumatize a child. Additionally, when a child experiences an intensified trauma, such as domestic violence, the episode can dramatically alter the trajectory of the child’s life (Farmer, 2009). Terr (1991) suggested that numerous disorders, in which adults suffer, may be traced back to …show more content…

Starting in utero, a fetus’s hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis (the cause of the anxiety loop) can become activated through domestic violence committed against its mother (Levendosky, Lannert, and Yalch, 2012). Thus, a child who encounter these traumas experience high levels of stress hormones (Cozolino, 2014). Because children, who are less than three years of age, right hemispheres come online and are dominant in those who are beneath the age of three, traumatic memories are laid down in in that portion of their brains (Farmer, 2009). The effects of observed violence on their right hemispheres will affect the formation of their left hemispheres (of their brains) when it comes online at approximately the third year of life (Farmer, 2009). Additionally, as the hippocampi, amygdalae, and prefrontal cortices of children rapidly develop during the first five years of life, early trauma in the form of domestic violence will effect these children psychologically (van der Kolk, …show more content…

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (fifth ed.) (DSM-5) defines PTSD in people over six years of age similarly to Charuvastra and Cloitre’s (2008) study, except it added the following: “negative alterations in cognitions and moods associated with the traumatic event(s)….[and m]arked alterations in arousal and activity associated with the traumatic event(s)” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Closer to the purpose of this article, the author shall include other specifics to PTSD such as derealization, depersonalization, and dissociative