Alan E. Kazdin; “that 74 million children and adolescents in the United States, 30 percent to 50 percent will experience at least one traumatic event by their 18th birthday. Events include sexual abuse, physical abuse, domestic violence, and community and school violence. Almost all of the victims express some kind of distress or behavioral changes in the acute phase of recovery. The behaviors include the feeling of horror, terror, and helplessness. There is physical disorders that they experience also, anxiety, sleep disorders, loss of interest in past hobbies.
The short documentary “Child of Rage” presents an example of how experiencing abuse as a child can shape the child later in life and how some children can recover. The intrafamilial abuse that Beth experienced as a one year old affected her behavior later in her childhood when she was adopted. Beth was also able to recover from some of the effects of the child abuse she experienced once she was separated from her adoptive family and taken to a special home. Beth experienced intrafamilial abuse at the hands of her biological father after her mother passed away when she was one.
According to Seligman “the distribution of human reactions to extreme adversity is bell shaped, on the far left hand are people who fall apart under thrilling adversity, they become helpless, they show what we now call “post-traumatic stress disorder” they occasionally become massively depressed” (2010, p. 239) .
Their physical vulnerability, together with the lack of coping and defense mechanisms
In essence, exposure to violence at an adolescent stage can be a difficult stressor to alleviate and grow out of, especially when it can lead to the emergence of post-traumatic stress disorder later in adulthood. This topic is important because to help the individual and make sure they receive appropriate care, we must be able to investigate the circumstances of their trauma, the factors that both contribute (or relieve) the trauma, and how it may play a role in the incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder. Such questions must be asked and probed to deepen the level of understanding we have of post-traumatic stress disorder and its origins in early life. This paper will examine multiple empirical studies to see how exposure to violence in childhood and adolescence may affect the emergence of post-traumatic stress disorder in adulthood. Only then may the answers be possible to aid children in similar situations in contemporary society and provide adequate care to dispel the effects of this violence and the power of this condition as a
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that its stupid,” noted Albert Einstein. I was a fish judged by its ability to climb a tree until my step mother entered my life. She sees people’s potential and helps them achieve it, and for that she is the most inspirational person in my life. I always wanted to sing, dance and perform
Threat is mediated by the brain via a number of predictable systems of response that are neurobiological, neuroendocrine and neuropsychological in nature (Perry et al., 1995). The most common response to threat is known as the “fight or flight” response (Perry et al., 1995). The major adaptive neuronal responses to threat in children therefore are the hyperarousal (defense or “fight or flight”) continuum and the dissociation (freezing and surrendering) continuum (Perry et al., 1995). It is more common for a child’s response to threat to be along the dissociation continuum as the “fight or flight” response can be somewhat impractical in their situation (Perry et al.,
Resilience is the ability to maintain healthy or successful functioning or the adaptation within the context of significant adversity or threat. Children and teenagers experiencing domestic violence can suffer lasting effects. It is important to note that not all children are affected in the same way, they can heal and go on to thrive meaning they are resilient. There are a number of risk and protective factors that the children, family or community that can impact the ways dictating how the children process and understand when exposed violence (Bowen, 2015). Protec¬tive factors act as "primitive" factors that have the potential to build family strengths and a family environment promoting optimal child development.
Growing up in a household with four men led to competitiveness throughout the entire family. Every little thing was made into a competition. Whether it be running up the stairs or finishing the dishes, there was always a winner. Of all the competitions among my family though, none were greater than the ones between Josef and me. As my older brother, he taught me more about life than anyone else ever has.
Adversity is something that I have faced my entire life. Ever since I have found out about my brother’s autism I have dealt with adversity, though it has taught me a lot. The first lesson I got from adversity is that I have to be mature and use common sense no matter how old I was. Being with my brother has given me responsibilities that most kids don’t have to deal with and these responsibilities make me act beyond my age so that I can love and take care of my brother to the best of my abilities. A second life lesson I have gotten from adversity is that I’m best at being myself.
This source explains how it happens, what to do, and the effects it makes on different people. On preschoolers it can make them very clingy to their parents or the opposite they may try to exclude people out. For elementary kids it can make them very aggressive, angry, and very easy to irritate, they may also get headaches or stomach pains. For middle school and high school students they may start not doing as well in school or they may change their relationship with teachers, parents or even friends.
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network says that "traumatized children can exhibit a wide variety of symptoms, including symptoms that are more difficult to observe (such as revenge fantasies, withdrawal, and isolation) and symptoms that are easier to observe (such as acting out and aggression). Symptoms often differ based on the age and developmental stage of the child. Traumatized children are more likely than other children to exhibit a wide range of adverse health behaviors that can impact their everyday life”. Something that we have to consider is that any number of things in a school setting can trigger these types of behavior. It can be caused by being bullied, physical contact by another peer or older adult, or even something as simple as a certain, sound, touch, smell, or taste.
Ever since I was born, there was always some sort of competition between my brother and me. Even though my brother is about two years older than me, we were about the same height when we were younger and adults could not tell who was older. However, our physical aspects did not matter that much to me. Instead, it was the intellectual aspects. As we grew up and matured, our competition did not consist of races on our bikes or hitting the ball as close to the hole as possible in golf.
Witnessing these violent acts lead to severe psychological, behavioral and social effects on youngsters that can possibly last their lifetimes. Research supports this, stating that, “children who are exposed to violence in the home may have difficulty learning and limited social skills, exhibit violent, risky or delinquent behavior, or suffer from depression or severe anxiety. Children in the
Acute stress or single exposure to stressor of minutes to hours will be not produce any ill effect as body have protective and adaptive effects managed by hormones and other physiological agents. However re-exposure has proven to be more enigmatic or difficult to reverse. Conrad et al (1999) stated that severe or prolonged exposure to stressors is harmful, brief or moderate stressors actually enhance neural function. Various behavioral studies focusing on the memory functions of the hippocampus have demonstrated that moderate stress enhances memory performance but severe stress causes adaptive plasticity and impairs memory. Prolonged stress produces interaction between local neurotransmitters and hormones leading to structural and functional damage causing suppression of neurogenesis.
