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Psychological effects of child abuse
Effects of childhood abuse later in life
Psychological effects of child abuse
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Recommended: Psychological effects of child abuse
The Impacts of Abuse: A lonely child
Yessenia Lopez Barradas
Community College of Aurora
Thesis Individuals who are abused and,or neglected as children are most likely to become violent and, or commit crimes as an adult, unlike a child who was free of childhood trauma.
Introduction
Childhood trauma is classified as traumatic experiences that occur to children between the ages 0-17. The National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children reported that 26% of children in the U.S. witness or have experienced a traumatic event before they turn four years old. Childhood Trauma has become a key element in understanding why individuals act with violence, as explained by the article titled, “Understanding the Experience
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It is also important to understand that many of the mass murders that occurred today are caused by neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder or head injury. Children will have different reactions towards abuse depending on their age. gray matter in the lateral region of the prefrontal cortex is responsible for executive functions such as controlling impulses, reasoning, and making decisions. Traumatic stress interferes with the normal death of neurons, development of neural pathways, and with synaptic pruning, leading to emotional, physiological, psychological, and social development issues. Some of these neural circuits are responsible for the ability to cope adaptively in emotional and stressful situations thus affecting the behavior of children under stressful situations. Long terms effects of the brain appear to be most present in individuals who experiences Type III Trauma. Kids will have a harder time learning, speaking and making relationships. I also learned that children who experienced trauma will often be in a state of alert, and loud noises, scents, even another person can bring back the memories of the abuse and will make the individual recall this moment and act out accordingly to how they feel. This may cause someone to be extremely violent, and will take it out on others. Many organized serial killers will target those who remind them of the people that caused harm to them or someone who let the child be abused by another person. The individual will recent these people and will target those who look like them, they may also hurt those people in the same way that they were hurt. The study “Biology, childhood trauma, and murder: Rethinking justice” explains the following: information when we need it to understand new experiences. Traumatic events overwhelm the brain's
Adverse childhood experiences known as the ACE Study, was developed to determine whether childhood events had long-term health consequences, which has important implications for Healthy People 2020 Policy planning, as well as for key social work roles in disease prevention. (Larkin, Felitti, Anda, 2014). Based on the Michael’s case he has experienced six ACEs, child abuse that was both emotional and physical, alcohol abuse, single parent home, working class, and lack of support/closeness with family. Some studies suggest that the experience of four or more ACEs is a threshold above which there is a particular higher risk of negative physical and mental health outcomes. (Sacks, Murphey, Moore, 2014) Early life stress, including neglect and abuse,
The brain scan of a killer often lacks this, meaning that the activity in the frontal lobe is minimal. Without the activity, people often have emotional problems, personality changes, and trouble with their social behavior. Just because a person has frontal lobe damage doesn’t mean that they will grow into a cold blooded killer, there is often other factors that play into it, “Research shows that serial killers have long histories of violence, beginning in childhood with the targeting of other children, siblings, and small animals. They maintain superficial relationships with others, have trouble relating to the opposite sex, and have guilt feelings about their interest in sex” (Siegel 295). Abuse as a child or neglect can also play a role in shaping a killer ("What Creates Serial Killers and Psychopaths: Genetics or Environment?"). With seeing the abuse so much as a child, the person may accept violence into their everyday life and may think that it is
In childhood, if one has abusive, manipulative, or irresponsible parents that neglect them at home, a part of their brain, which controls emotions, is damaged, and they become more prone to violence and aggression (White, Sadie. " Making a Monster: The Biological, Social, and Artistic Construction of a Serial Killer From Psychosis to Sondheim").
... In conclusion, it is clearly shown that domestic violence has a negative effect on the children who witness it. An expanding body of research suggests that childhood trauma and adverse experiences can lead to a variety of negative health outcomes (Anda & Chapman & Dube & Felitti & Giles & Williamson, 2001, p.1). In fact, childhood stressors such as witnessing domestic violence and other household dysfunctions are highly interrelated and have a graded relationship to numerous health and social problems (Anda & Chapman & Dube & Felitti & Giles & Williamson, 2001, p.2). It is obvious and clearly shown that the children who witness domestic abuse have serious long-term mental effects.
According to the American Psychological Association, trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event. Some terrible events that happen all too often are rape, natural disasters or an accident. Immediately following the event shock and denial are likely to occur, but in the long-term flashbacks, unpredictable emotions and troubled relationships can arise. Defining emotional trauma on a child. Emotional trauma in a child can be created by bullying, emotional abuse, death of loved ones, separation from parent, or chaos and dysfunction in the household. Child symptoms of trauma can be very similar to depression symptoms. They can over sleep or sleep to little, unexplained anger, trouble focusing, obsessive worrying and some anxiety. How a child experiences an event and how it’s handled by those around him have an effect on how traumatizing it can be, notes Dr. Jerry Bubrick (Child Mind Institute , 2017). People grieve at different speeds and the way the child grieves is not the correct indicator on how the child will cope later. Defining physical trauma on a child. Physical trauma on a child is considered non-accidental or the cause of physical injury. Some households that suffer from alcoholism/substance abuse and anger issues have higher occurrences of child abuse as compared to households without according to psychology today. Sometimes kids that are abused are unaware that they are being abused and are victims of child
These mothers often require help from another because they have little to no social support; resulting in the mothers being neglectful. People who abuse children have normally been abused themselves as a child. Child abuse is also seen in homes with inexperienced and young parents; because they have high expectations. Cases of child abuse are seen to happen in homes filled with stress and substance abuse (Schwartz-Kenney, et al.). The children and young adults exposed to child abuse lacked extended family support, a sense of community, and lived in poverty
... In some cases, recurrent maltreatment occurs when the child is reunified with the biological parents or original caregivers. Children who are abused can display behavioral problems, which can impact many areas of their life. They tend to act out at school and have low academic performance (Webb, 2007). They may also internalize their behavior by becoming depressed and showing symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Throughout the course of one’s lifetime, there are countless events that shape the personality, actions and mentality of that individual. Some of these events will affect the individual in a positive way allowing great life opportunities, while other events will unfortunately affect the individual in a negative way which can lead to disorders. Among the various events that can affect a person, one of the most common occurrences that some children witness early on in their lives that deeply affect their long-term mental health is being a witness to domestic violence. Research and observations that were studied revealed that there are multiple factors that can contribute to a child witnessing domestic violence. The more categories that the child falls into, the more likely they are to develop mental health issues later on in their life (Meltzer, Doos, Vostanis, Ford, and Goodman, 2009). The research conducted by Meltzer et al. (2009), was used to study the factors that were intertwined with domestic violence, as well as to better understand the needs of children who have witnessed the violence at a young age.
This makes it very difficult for them to file for clemency. Trauma can have a lifetime effect. Only a few will recognize the symptoms or know how to support kids struggling to recover from past events. Trauma involves intense feelings of helplessness, terror, and lack of control, often caused by threats to physical
Child maltreatment can affect any child, usually aged 0-18, and it occurs across socioeconomic, religious, ethnic or even educational backgrounds. Arguably, child abuse and neglect is a violation of basic human rights of a child resulting from social, familial, psychological and economic factors (Kiran, 2011). Familial factors include lack of support, poverty, single parenthood, and domestic violence among others, (McCoy and Keen, 2009). The common types of child maltreatment include physical abuse, emotional maltreatment, neglect, and sexual abuse among others. Abuse and neglect can lead to a variety of impacts on children and young people such as physical, behavioral as well as psychological consequences which will affect the development and growth of the child either positively or negatively based on the environment and agency. More so, emotional, cognitive and physical developmental impacts from child neglect in the early stages of childhood can be carried on into adulthood. Research findings reveal that the experience of maltreatment can cause major long-term consequences on all aspects of a child’s health, growth as well as intellectual development and mental wellbeing, and these effects can impair their functioning as adults. Commonly, the act of abuse/ or neglect toward a child affects the child’s physical, behavioral development and growth, which can be positive or negative, depending on the child’s environment and agency. Another way to understand how the act has affected the child is to look at the child for who they are, and interviewing and observing their behaviors of their everyday life.
We’ll start with child abuse victims and the affects and reasons of this abuse. There are four types of child abuse and I will list them in order from least to greatest, neglect, physical, sexual and emotional abuse. Neglect takes first with the NCVS having 54% reports of child neglect in 2007. Neglect is a very serious form of abuse it is the failure for a parent or guardian to provide for a child’s basic needs, including physical and educational needs. We grow and development drastically in the first twelve years of our life so when parental guidance and love is absent it affects a child’s developmental skills along with learning right from wrong. Many forms of neglect occur in larger households and with households with domestic violence. Many parents with multiple kids become too busy focusing on the older children they tend to forget the youngest one. So it’s common for a three year old to walk out of the front door and on to the street when no one is there to tell him or...
Children that have been exposed to maltreatment may be negatively affected with their mental well-being and academic achievement. A study conducted by Romano, Babchishin, Marquis, and Frechette (2014) analyzed the relationship between educational outcomes and childhood maltreatment, with a focus on academic achievement and mental health. The literature review examined 16 empirical articles and 4 research syntheses that were published in relevant journals. The peer reviewed articles that were chosen to be analyzed included empirical studies of educational and mental health outcomes for children with histories of maltreatment. The articles examined in this study used a variety of data collection methods in order to collect results, which included
Trauma relates to a type of damage to the mind that comes from a severely distressing event. A traumatic event relates to an experience or repeating events that overwhelmingly precipitated in weeks, months, or decades as one tries to cope with the current situations that can cause negative consequences. People’s general reaction to these events includes intense fear, helplessness or horror. When children experience trauma, they show disorganized or agitative behavior. In addition, the trigger of traumas includes some of the following, harassment, embarrassment, abandonment, abusive relationships, rejection, co-dependence, and many others. Long-term exposure to these events, homelessness, and mild abuse general psychological
Authors Moylan, Herrenkohl, Sousa, Tajima., Herrenkohl, and Russo of “The effects of child abuse and exposure to domestic violence on adolescent internalizing and externalizing behavior problems” explained, “Numerous studies have demonstrated that children exposed to domestic violence and/or child abuse are more likely to experience a wide range of adverse psychosocial and behavioral outcomes” (Moylan, Herrenkohl, Sousa, Tajima., Herrenkohl, & Russo, 2010). The effects of physical abuse persist into adolescence leading teenagers to become socially awkward or, in some cases, pregnant. These individuals tend to keep to themselves or in small groups of trusted people. Correspondingly, as children age, the damage of the abuse leads them to become dependent upon drug substances and can also lead to them becoming child abusers themselves. Domestic violence remains one of the many causes adults physically abuse
Children who have been abused and neglected are likely of being arrested when they are juveniles and as adults, and criminal behavior can increase at and earlier time. These children are more likely to dropout of school, less likely to go to college, and likely to abuse substance which can lead them to their