Childhood Trauma Essay Example

📌Category: Child development, Health, Mental health, Psychology
📌Words: 786
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 16 January 2022

Did you know Childhood trauma has long term effects on the child that follows into adulthood. In fact there are alot of types of trauma that affect the child. It has physiological effects and delayed development in children who experience a traumatic event during the cognitive developmental phases. In any point of a child’s developmental stage any trauma will have a long term effect. Although we might not be aware or educated on it. I will elaborate on the types of traumas and the developmental effects, disorders and treatments to cope with childhood trauma. As well as to identify it.

To begin there are multiple types of traumatic events that can occur like physical abuse, neglect, emotional trauma etc… All this leads to a child not being able to develop and the child will grow up and have various problems as an adult.  Mcleod, S. (2018) Children develop in stages in Erikson’s theory there are 5 stages a child should complete each one after the other in order to go to the next stage. 

Firstly is the stage of Trust vs Mistrust that is the stage from birth to 18 months in this stage children gain trust to the person taking care of them. If at this stage the child is neglected he will not have hope and will develop mistrust and anxiety. Secondly is the Autonomy vs shame at this stage the child develops a sense of independence through encouragement from the caregiver or parent. If the child is too controlled and not allowed to explore he will have low self esteem and will depend on others. The third stage is initiative vs guilt where the child is at a time of fast developing  Bee (1992) “time of vigor”.  The child will start making decisions on his own and if he is put down by a parent he will develop guilt. The fourth stage at age 5-12 is the Industry vs inferiority stage at which the child develops pride. School plays a major role in the teacher also encouraging the child if the child is not encouraged to he will develop doubtness. The last stage is identity vs role confusion at this stage of adolescence they look for to identify their personality. The pressure to fit in can lead to rebellious children and could follow into adulthood. Children can easily be affected by any sort of trauma and it can intervene in their 

overall development  and lead to later personality disorders. Children can develop long term disorders in consequence of a traumatic event like PTSD post traumatic stress disorder. Symptoms are fear denial and many more; this can be a major problem in adulthood when looking for a relationship, a job and making important decisions. CDC. (2018, October 18).

A child can also develop substance abuse as well as anxiety, obesity, diabetes, heart problems, strokes and cancer. The way the body responds to stress can lead to elevated protein’s that lead to inflammation in the brain caused by emotional stress. All these consequences are in response to the trauma and they all lead to unhealthy coping and lead to bad choices in a child and could cause a child to become sick. The symptoms to look for in child trauma are separation anxiety, appetite changes, bed wetting, grumpiness and eating more than usual or too little. Those are some of the symptoms but every child is different. Children can also develop learning problems lower grades, being suspended from school and unable to concentrate. In response we should be on the lookout for signs of child abuse or trauma although  some trauma can come from a loss of a family member, also from witnessing a traumatic event a child does not have to be directly affected to develop problems. Some parents think that by fighting in front of their kids it's not bad for them but it is. As well a lot of people don't believe in children having anxiety or depression like in some households who are not educated and don't even know what child trauma is. 

In conclusion children should be treated appropriately for their trauma as early as possible and for us to be aware of how to report child abuse of any sort. Children tend to be resilient and bounce back but not all kids are the same. It mostly depends on the duration of the trauma the child is enduring. Professional help can be used to help the child cope and even medication to treat the symptoms he may be experiencing in consequence. Also assuring the child he is safe and being patient will help a child succeed and be able to overcome the trauma. We should do all to keep our children safe and educate about the signs and the treatments for childhood trauma even if you never got treated but have the symptoms as an adult it's not too late to get treated to be able to enjoy life. Childhood trauma should be a priority for us. We should educate parents about it and listen to our children.

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