Introduction
Trauma can be described as an emotional reaction to an unexpected event, such as an accident, a natural disaster, and others. Trauma can also be associated with harm caused to a person’s mental health as a result of exposure to adverse environmental factors. U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (2022) reports that trauma cases are not rare. About five in every ten women and six in every ten men experience trauma at least once in their lives (U.S Department of Veteran Affairs, 2022). Men’s trauma is mainly attributed to accidents, disasters, combat, physical assault, or witnessing injury or death. Women and children are likely to suffer from trauma due to domestic violence, sexual assault, and abuse. Any person can experience trauma; nonetheless, this discussion will be focused on examining how childhood traumatic experience shapes a child’s behavior and how trauma can be passed from one generation to the other.
Influence of Early Communication Experience
Childhood trauma occurs when children are exposed to adverse events. The negative events or circumstances tend to develop painful emotions that overwhelm a child’s ability to cope with situations. Young children are primarily at risk of being exposed to trauma and are likely to suffer more from its adverse effects, significantly contributing to who they become in the future. According to Perry and Szalavitz (2017), a person’s life experience shapes who they will become in the future. The brain stores information by creating a catalog of all the experiences that one goes through in their development (Perry & Szalavitz, 2017). Nonetheless, the adverse effects of the trauma can be mitigated through family cohesion, positive relationships between the caregiver and a child, social competence, and adaptive coping.
Trauma Transmission from Generation to Generation
There is a process of transmission of trauma from generation to generation through genes. The mechanism of transmission of trauma from generation to generation can occur at the level of epigenetic changes. How a child is raised and the environment they are raised in is detrimental to who they become. Being raised by supportive parents helps a child avoid trauma or know how to deal with it. Perry and Szalavitz (2017) argue that most of the brain develops in childhood, and how a person is brought up significantly influences how their brain grows. Additionally, children need a consistent caregiver to improve their emotional health and physical growth (Perry and Szalavitz, 2017). The constant interaction of a child with a small group of caregivers enables them to develop a healthy brain which helps them deal with trauma effectively.
Exposure to trauma can lead to adverse life circumstances and events. For instance, in Skin Hunger and The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog by Perry and Szalavitz (2017), it is clear how trauma causes adverse life circumstances. Laura’s mother, Virginia, never knew her parents and was raised in different foster homes. In this case, it was presented that the children who were born had some psychological abnormalities that were a consequence of the psychological trauma of the parent.
Intervention Strategies that Address Developmental Trauma
In addition, it is common for young children and adolescents to be exposed to more than one form of trauma. Children exposed to pervasive and chronic trauma are more vulnerable to the severe effects of subsequent trauma. When families, adolescents, and children come together to help the affected ones, then the trauma that they identify may not be the one causing distress within a child. In the case of Virginia, there are many incidents where she has faced traumatic events. For example, her child’s father left her alone when she became pregnant. Virginia was then lucky to be enrolled in a program for high-risk mothers, and after giving birth, she was again left alone to take care of a child without parenting knowledge (Perry and Szalavitz, 2017). Thus, various factors should be considered in determining which traumatic event is causing distress may it be in adolescents or a child.
Interactions with children exposed to trauma must be well thought out. People who have experienced trauma should be handled carefully because they lack empathy and do not know how to react to certain events. In Skin Hunger and The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog, while attempting to help Robert, the author first seeks to understand his past. Through Mama P, a reader learns that Robert has been through different foster homes and has been expelled from other schools, and teachers and his peers fear him due to his range of episodes. By attaining this information, the author positions himself better since he understands that Robert did not have a consistent parent or caregiver relationship as a child, which is crucial in brain development. For the author to help Robert, he first had to make Mama P comfortable sharing information about the child. By applying this intervention framework, the author can understand the child’s needs and devise a permanent solution.
Conclusion
To sum up, how a child is brought up is crucial to their overall development. At a young age, children need all the support they can get from their parents or caregivers. Moreover, a child during the early stages needs a consistent caregiver. When children are exposed to different caregivers within short periods, they do not develop the necessary attachment they require to help them deal with traumatic situations.
References
Perry, B., & Szalavitz, M. (2017). The boy who was raised as a dog: And other stories from a child psychiatrist’s notebook. Basic Books.
U.S Department of Veteran Affairs. (2022). National Center for PTSD. Web.