Mental stress at a young age results to traumatizing experiences among children. Childhood trauma could be caused by domestic violence, exposure of children to mentally tormenting scenes, or physical assault of the child. Trauma causes devasteting effects on young children as it inhibits the normal development of the brains of the children. When childhood traumas are not addressed, the children grow into adulthood with mental notions that sympathizes with trauma. Such individuals are likely to perceive mental trauma as a normal experience with no significant effect on children and therefore causing completion of trauma cycle. Trauma cycles are results of childhood trauma that were not corrected and were carried into adulthood as harmless practices as depicted by the paper.
The effects of childhood trauma on development
The exposure of children to traumatizing situations affects the normal development of the young brains. Childhood traumas halt the normal development of the human brain. ” ( Ali, McGarry & Bradbury-Jones, 2020). The human brain develops in three main stages namely; the stem, limbic region, and the cortex. The stem starts developing at birth because it is responsible for coordination of metabolic rate. The performance of the stem region is jeopardized by the exposure of children to childhood trauma which impares the response of the stem in coordination of basic metabolic reactions (Ali, et al, 2020). The development of the limbic region that and the cortex region come later in childhood stages. Trauma affects the development of the last two stages of Brain development. “Trauma impairs the development of a region called broca’s region in the brain which is responsible for speech” ( Ali, et al, 2020). Children who were exposed to childhood trauma exhibit difficulties in speech abilities. “The development of corpus collosum is greatly reduced by violence and traumatizing experiences at childhood” ( Ali, et al, 2020). Corpus Collosum is the region that connects the left and right side of the brain. The underdevelopment of this region causes poor coordination of the two sides of the brain and hence causing reducing the cognitive ability of the individual.
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Childhood stress also affects the normal secretion of hormones. The disciplined secretion system of hormones is compromised by trauma at a young age. “Trauma causes unregulated release of stress hormones at childhood and the scenario can lead inflammations which could be infectious” (Bodkin, Pivnick, Bondy, Ziegler, Martin, Jernigan & Kouyoumdjian, 2019). Trauma at a young age confuses the secretion procedures of hormones and therefore resulting to unregulated secretions which could be infectious at later stages of life. “Young age trauma develops hypervigilance character in growing children” (Bodkin, et al, 2019). People have a trauma history at childhood exhibit undesired aggression traits at adulthood which can jeopardize one’s social conducts. “The problem with trauma at young age is that it causes attention deficit disorders in future” (Bodkin, et al, 2019). Stress at early impairs the ability of the human brain to concentrate with trends happening around.
The relationship between abuse cycle and childhood trauma
Whenever children are exposed to young age trauma, there is a risk that they would grow to embrace it if measures are not taken to stop the trauma. “The brain born into trauma attempts to adapt to the hostile environment” ( Michl-Petzing, Handley, Sturge-Apple, Cicchetti, & Toth, 2019). The scenario allows young children to grow with the pervasive thought that abuse is normal. Once children enter adulthood with such notions, the chances of the individual to embrace trauma is increased since individual might perceive trauma as a normal and harmless occurrence. Most of the people who grew in traumatizing atmosphere have little sensitivity to abuse in adulthood. “The children grow into adults with a blind spot towards the effects of childhood trauma” ( Michl-Petzing, 2019). The relationship between abuse cycle and childhood trauma is that abusive traits could be carried into parenthood by individuals who grew in a traumatizing environment. “The victims are likely to subject their children into similar abuse with an ignorant notion that discredits the effects of childhood trauma” ( Michl-Petzing , 2019). The victims of abuse are the ones who complete abuse cycle. However, an abuse cycle can be avoided by correcting the adaptation of children to trauma. Childhood trauma should be discouraged and awareness should be created concerning the effects of trauma on children.
The experience of childhood trauma impairs the mental development of children. Poor mental development poses future threats of cognitive related disorders. Trauma causes irresponsible the secretion of stress hormones at a young age. The uncensored secretion of hormones can cause infectious inflammations. Children growing in a traumatizing environment develop poor social skills. Failure to correct childhood trauma poses the risk that some individuals might perceive it as a normal practice that has no serious implications.
References
Ali, P., McGarry, J., & Bradbury-Jones, C. (2019. Domestic Violence and Abuse: Theoretical Explanation and Perspectives. In Domestic Violence in Health Contexts: A Guide for Healthcare Professions (pp. 17-33). Springer, Cham.
Bodkin, C., Pivnick, L., Bondy, S. J., Ziegler, C., Martin, R. E., Jernigan, C., & Kouyoumdjian, F. (2019). History of Childhood Abuse in Populations Incarcerated in Canada: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. American journal of public health, 109(3), e1-e11.a
Michl-Petzing, L. C., Handley, E. D., Sturge-Apple, M., Cicchetti, D., & Toth, S. L. (2019). Re-examining the “cycle of abuse”: Parenting determinants among previously maltreated, low-income mothers. Journal of family psychology , 33 (6), 742.
