{"id":5440,"date":"2012-05-23T16:40:58","date_gmt":"2012-05-23T20:40:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ccpa.scottbuckingham.ca\/blog\/?p=2131"},"modified":"2015-07-03T15:54:12","modified_gmt":"2015-07-03T19:54:12","slug":"the-effects-of-trauma-on-children-and-adolescents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/fr\/the-effects-of-trauma-on-children-and-adolescents\/","title":{"rendered":"The Effects of Trauma on Children and Adolescents"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>And finally I twist my heart round again, so that the bad is on the outside and the good is on the inside, and keep on trying to find a way of becoming what I would so like to be, and could be, if there weren\u2019t any other people living in the world.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ~ Anne Frank<\/p>\n

Traumatic experiences incurred in early childhood can have an egregious effect upon the human condition including: the psychological, physiological, neurological, emotional, social, and academic readiness and preparedness for life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the greatest challenges posed to professionals is that,\u00a0 \u201cchildhoood trauma does not come in one single package.\u201d (Brown, 2008, p. 5) Therefore, making the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis is the Achilles heel<\/em> of the therapeutic process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cTraumatic experiences can derail the child\u2019s readiness to learn, either temporarily or for the long term, through such mechanisms as hyper-vigilance, constriction of exploration, misattribution of hostile intention of others, preemptive and self-protective aggression, generalized fears, and preoccupation with internal processes so that attention is deployed to the self rather than to the (learning and academic) environment.\u201d (Osofsky, 2004, p. 115)<\/p>\n

RESILIENCY <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cChildren who are resilient often have an appearance of a Teflon\u00ae coating: nothing seems to faze these children. Whether they are capable of sloughing off the traumatic event, or they are truly resilient is something that is difficult to measure.\u201d (Brown, 2008, p. 40) Even if we could measure the effects of these associated traumatic events, the difficulty lies in the child\u2019s familial and socioeconomic environments which have an outlying effect upon the child\u2019s perceptions and worldviews, and thus resiliency.\u00a0 \u201cIs resiliency a collaboration of parental care giving and nurturing as well as the natural tendency to rebound?\u201d (Brown, 2008, p. 40)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat determines why one child can prove resilient while another child cannot?\u201d (Brown, 2008, p. 40) The factors are many; but simplified, it is the protective factors that act as an insulator safeguarding a child from potential harm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is commonly-and-erroneously-assumed that children are resilient and that their reactions to disasters are fleeting.\u201d (La Greca et. al., 2002, p. 4)<\/p>\n

ATTACHMENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

A child with a secure attachment to either mother and\/or father, has a greater propensity of overcoming a childhood traumatic experience, if the natural bond is securely established.\u00a0 The attachment itself acts as a adhesive firmly connecting the child and parent together.\u00a0 Whereas, a child who is lacking a parental attachment, has a higher probability of developing chronic psychological issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n

THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCES<\/strong><\/p>\n

The effects of childhood traumatic stress cannot only alter the psychological conditioning of the human psyche, but can have a profound effect upon the overall physiological state of the human condition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The effects of traumatic stress has been shown to cause severe psychological impairment throughout the neuroendocrine system.\u00a0 Unresolved traumatic stressors can play havoc on the psychology and physiology of the human condition including:\u00a0 disruption of critical central nervous system integration and functioning during childhood development, deregulation of brain functioning and capacity to harness the necessary basic regulatory processes.<\/p>\n

A BRIEF LIST OF SYMPTOMOLOGICAL TRAITS\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Symptoms of traumatic experiences frequently include, but are not limited to the following:<\/p>\n