Childhood Trauma and Neurological Development Essay

Childhood is a time for playdates and learning, a time for big dreams and imaginary adventures. Safety and security should not be questions that linger in uncertainty. However, this is not the case for many children across the globe. Thousands of children from all walks of life each day are faced with unspeakable horror and must deal with the resulting trauma from then on. However, in children, managing this trauma takes a different toll on the mind and heart than it does in adults. While the type of trauma may vary in pervasiveness across countries, trauma occurring in childhood has the ability to cause long term damage to the growing neurological functioning in the brain and negatively influence children’s spiritual development, wounding†¦show more content†¦Cross the Atlantic, Canadian researchers Trocme, Fallon, MacLaurin, Vandna, Black, Fast, Felstiner, Helie, Turcotte, Weightman, Douglas, and Holroyd (2008) denoted that the most common form of childhood trauma i s from abuse. 34% of children were being neglected by their caregivers and 20% were being physically abused by caregivers (Trocme et al, 2008). As one can see, child trauma is a major issue that is a part of multiple cultures regardless of the economic status of the country. Damage done from trauma on the neurological functioning of the brain can be widespread, but can be found to interfere with functioning of the hippocampus and the limbic system to a greater extent. Randall (2011) explained that when a large amount of stress is continually placed on the brain from ongoing trauma, cortisol, a fight or flight response chemical, can fail to stop firing when the stressor that ignited the cortisol is no longer present. This excess of cortisol impairs the brains ability to function properly (Randall, 2011). Andersen, Tomada, Vincow, Valente, Polcari, Teicher (2008) found that women who had experienced sexual abuse during childhood actually had a difference in the volume of their hippoc ampus (as cited in Pechtel and Pizzagalli, 2011). The region which controls memory and emotional regulation was found to be smaller in the women who had been sexually abused in early childhood in comparison toShow MoreRelatedA Child s Sense Of Self1297 Words   |  6 Pagesearly in development. Children exposed to early trauma, especially by a primary care giver, develop a distorted sense of the self, others, and the world. 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