Emma's Trauma Case Study

Though Emma’s behavioral changes include increased tantrums, anger, and distraction, her mother and teacher report that she is generally pleasant and kind. Emma’s demeanor suggests that she is a typical loving and kind child. Her behavioral issues are also highly typical in reaction to the trauma she experienced in the preceding years of parental conflict and sexual abuse in preschool. She likely continues to experience trauma from her parent’s divorce and custody battle. The fact that the case-worker recently reopened the case of her abuser most likely triggered the trauma in Emma and her parents, adding to a hostile family environment. Emma’s mother appears to be deeply caring for her daughter, as she continuously attends psychotherapy sessions

In a survey of 34,000 adults in the United States, Pérez-Fuentes et al. (2013) found significant correlations between child sexual abuse (CSA) and psychopathology, suicidal ideation, and negative self-image. For example, in comparison to non-victims, CSA victims had less perceived family support, increased risk for suicide attempts, and higher rates of psychiatric disorders, the highest rates being post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), mood disorders, and ADHD (Pérez-Fuentes et al., 2013). Emma exhibits symptomatology of ADHD in her distracted behavior and difficulty paying attention in class. There is also evidence that suicidality in victims of child abuse may be mediated by increased impulsivity due to traumatic impairment of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the prefrontal cortex, neurobiological systems involved in stress and impulsivity (Braqeuhais et al., 2010). Thus, Emma’s increase in impulsive and stress-related behavior probably put her at greater risk for developing suicidal ideation. In another study, maltreatment, including sexual, physical, and emotional abuse as well as neglect was significantly correlated with externalizing behavior in children, such as aggression (Narayan et al., 2015). Thus, Emma was likely deeply affected psychologically by her sexual abuse and is exhibiting related

This means that both positive and negative influences on any system will likely affect every other system. This helps understand that one behavior may be affected by something seemingly unconnected that may be inhibiting her growth through negative entropy. A limitation to a DST approach is that it takes a very broad and almost vague approach to analyzing Emma’s situation. That is, it is impossible to factor in every system influencing her life because there are almost infinite factors. Therefore, using a DST approach incorporates bias of what is deemed “important” to include in the analysis. This may not have negative repercussions; however, there may be insidious systems that are left out of the analysis. DST provides a very useful framework that allows one to hypothesize as to why Emma may be experiencing certain symptoms, but it may not encompass the entirety of her