Childhood trauma generally means a dangerous, scary, and life-threatening event that a child might experience (0-18 years). A child can also can be traumatised by witnessing this type of event, when seeing or hearing that the other person is injured or hurt. In these situations, children can feel helpless, distressed, overwhelmed, or upset. Hopefully, not all endangering and overwhelming experiences will be qualified as traumatic. It mainly depends on the child’s interpretation of the event.
This is why you shouldn’t rush your child to a reputable online therapy. Instead, you should seek consultation from a child specialist to determine the cause of the issues. There’s a good chance everything is ok and you’re just overreacting as a worried parent.
Potential Causes for Trauma
A child’s brain is a very fragile organ. It absorbs information like a sponge, which makes it susceptible to influences. What’s worse, children don’t have developed critical reasoning, which is why they take things at face value. Some traumatic events might involve:
- School violence
- Bulllying
- Serious injury
- Crime
- Domestic violence
- Discriminiation
- Loss of a loved one
- Homelessness
- Natural disaster
- Cyberbullying
- Destitution
- Neglect
- Serious illness, etc.
Every child will have its own perception of a situation and might experience different developmental issues. Unfortunately, these experiences are in most cases negative and there’s no silver lining to look for.
Less-Impactful Trauma
There are also other events that are mainly not considered as potentially traumatic, but may have a lasting negative impact on children. For instance, some families need to be relocated due to their jobs, or financial difficulties.
Such events are common for the majority of people, but for others might have a negative impact. Child traumatic stress refers to the child’s responses after some traumatic event occurred and has a negative impact on his/her daily routine.
These traumatic reactions may manifest in different ways, such as behavioural changes in children (withdrawal, irritation), difficulty socializing with others, poor school performance, irregular sleep patterns, and so on. It is vital for a parent to recognize these issues as soon as possible and act accordingly.
Brain Development
Human’s brain starts to develop even before birth and its development continues into adulthood. Early childhood and young adulthood are considered more sensitive periods, when positive or negative experiences may impact people’s brains.
Healthy brains are a result of a child’s positive experience, while life-threatening and dangerous events are detrimental to a child’s brain development. Thanks to the child’s brain’s plasticity, there is always a potential for our brains to change and develop properly.
This brain neuroplasticity also enables toddlers and infants to learn new skills and languages. Neural pathways in a child’s brain are being created by picking up new developmental skills.
The Effect of Trauma on the Brain Development
A traumatic event affects multiple parts of the child’s brain. The consequences of early childhood trauma may involve:
- Disruption of attachment
- Cognitive developmental delays
- Emotional dysregulation.
Trauma can be caused by persistent experiences or by only one event. Anything that makes an alteration to the child’s sense of safety is considered as a traumatic experience and might affect the child’s brain development.
Normal Brain Development
The first four years are crucial for a child’s brain development. To understand how traumatic events have an impact on the brain, it is important to look closely at brain evolution. The human brain can be divided into three units:
Reptilian Brain
The Reptilian brain, also known as the brainstem, is the first layer that develops. It is in control of our breathing, thirst, hunger, heart rate, balance, sleep, body temperature, and sexuality.
Limbic Area
The intermediate or old mammalian brain is the next one that starts developing. It is responsible for the formation of emotional attachments, determines what is dangerous or pleasurable, the learning process, and memory. Structures that form part of a limbic area are: amygdala, hypothalamus, hippocampus, and limbic cortex.
- Amygdala
The amygdala is an almond-shaped structure and its primary role is in processing fearful emotions. When a threatening event happens, the amygdala identifies it as a threat and initiates a fight-or-flight response.
The amygdala of traumatized children might go into overdrive, continually signalling threat, releasing cortisol and getting them ready for fight-or-flight, fawn and freeze responses. This state can cause children to feel disturbed, frightful, insecure, and get over-sensitive for small things like a change in someone’s tone of voice.
- Hyppocampus
Hippocampus plays a vital role in controlling cortisol levels, preserving memory and helping us to understand spatial dimensions. Every time people respond to real or perceived threat, the hippocampus releases cortisol, which is a common response to stressful situations. Traumatized children often are not capable of managing cortisol levels.
- Limbic Cortex
This cortex is a vital part of the phylogenetically ancient cortex. It consists of two separate areas, which are the cingulate and insular cortices. With limbic cortex, we’re able to regulate pain and various other sensations. It is a critical part for affective functions as well as protecting data in connection to the body’s internal state.
Cortex
This part of the brain is in the upper regions and develops last. Many experts like to refer to the cortex as the brain’s watchtower. It is a vital area for reflection and contemplation about our surroundings and practical problems.
As the most rational part, it allows us to make logical decisions instead of reacting impulsively. However, its function doesn’t stop there. Cortex is also in charge of sensory, motor, and association areas.
The brain is a very sensitive organ that consists of numerous vital parts. If just one of these sections doesn’t work properly, it might affect your motoric abilities, rationale, instincts, and other vital functions.
As a parent, it is your job to quickly react to any change in your child’s surroundings. If you let your kid develop a trauma, it will be too late. Take a proactive stance on creating a positive environment that will stimulate the brain growth, while eliminating negative stimuli.
