The Effects of Childhood Abuse and Trauma

Those who don’t experience abuse… People whose integrity has not been damaged in childhood, who were protected, respected, and treated with honesty by their parents, will be--both in their youth and adulthood-- intelligent, responsive, empathetic, and highly sensitive. They will take pleasure in life and will not feel any need to hurt others or themselves. They will use their power to defend themselves but not to attack others They will not be able to do otherwise than to respect and protect those weaker than themselves, including their children, because this is what they have learned from their own experience and because it is this knowledge (and not the experience of cruelty) that has been stored up inside them from the beginning.

After you're born, the greatest impact on the brain you'll have as an adult comes from the _____________you have in the ____________of your life. At its best, the right learning opportunities and a nurturing childhood can give the basis for a ________________________adult.childhood On the other end, stress and trauma during development, such as that endured during physical abuse or lack of parental involvement, can have lasting _________________________.stress 3

Those who do experience childhood abuse… 1)Brain Physically Changes 1)Parts of the brain have been shown to ________ or decrease in volume 2)_______________does not develop the same as a normal brain 3)___________brain (controls emotions, primitive feelings) tends to _____________ - Leads to reacting in a flight/flight/freeze way even to ____________situations

Those who do experience childhood abuse… 1)Brain Physically Changes 1)__________struggles to develop, affecting _______________ “The longer the maltreatment, the smaller the brain and corpus callosum and the lower the child’s IQ.” -Cohen, Perel, DeBellis, et al. (2002) 1)Left and right hemispheres are less connected – can lead to radical shifts in __________ and ___________________ 2)_______________ personalities,_____________, and other mental disorders are more likely to develop in abused children

Those who do experience childhood abuse… 2) Emotional Impact ___________ Childhood stress seems to cause ___________ changes that make the children less able to cope with high levels of __________________later in life. Children who are abused early are flooded with stress hormones like adrenaline and ____________, impacting on how the brain develops and the stress regulation method. This in turn impacts on the hippocampus, the area which controls feelings, meaning that adult survivors will be more likely to be 1)highly _________________ 2)have difficulties with____________and emotions 3)Struggle with violence and _______________

Those who do experience childhood abuse… 2) Emotional Impact continued… 1)_________________________________ symptoms are displayed (flashbacks, avoidance,__________, fight or flight, ______________________, etc.) 2)Helplessness 3)___________________ issues 4)be prone to ______________, anxiety, _____________ and _____________

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Those who do experience childhood abuse… 3) Behavioural Development Impact -Stress can set off a ripple of hormonal changes that permanently wire a child's brain to cope with a malevolent world (Teicher, 2002). -Through this chain of events, __________ and __________ pass from generation to generation (Teicher, 2002).

Those who do experience childhood abuse… 3) Behavioural Development Impact continued… Aggressive, oppositional, ___________, prone to “rages” Antisocial, __________, Inability to _________ others, isolation ______________ behavior problems (SA), Early sexual activity, _________________, promiscuity _________________avoidance

Those who do experience childhood abuse… 4) Social Problems Poor ______________ skills, Socially immature, Inability to function “_______________” in some social settings Poor social ___________________________ Difficulty understanding complex _______________ Poor boundaries Withdrawal, Resist affection Passive, _________________________________

Those who do experience childhood abuse… 4) Social Problems continued… Longitudinal studies following children who were abused and neglected as children showed that these traumatic experiences increase the risk for _________________traumatic Substance Abuse – ____________, drug abuse is common ____________________ describes the process whereby women who were sexually abused as children frequently find themselves in abusive, dangerous situations, or relationships as adults. ____________________ Family violence and abuse continued – the _________________________________

The impact of trauma on children Source: Child Safety Commissioner, 2009, From isolation to connection: a guide to understanding and working with traumatised children and young people, 13

The effect of trauma on children Children who experience horrible external events may experience emotional harm or psychic trauma. Left untreated, all but the mildest of childhood trauma can have an impact on the child Source: American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Your Child – Childhood Trauma and Its Effects, It is important to remember that abuse, neglect and other trauma have different impacts on different children − and that while we have to take seriously the negative impacts of trauma we cannot underestimate the strength of human resilience Source: Child Safety Commissioner, 2009, From isolation to connection: a guide to understanding and working with traumatised children and young people,.

But What About Resilience? “The individual is the product of all of his or her experiences, not early experiences alone.” – Sroufe, Carlston, Levy, & Egeland (1999)

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