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Effects of emotional trauma on children essay
Violence in the media affecting society
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In today’s communicating environment, individuals are bombarded with mass media violence. Silver et al. (2013) argue that potential mental-health issues may arise due to vicarious media exposure to violence or disasters. Early research that looked at children affected by the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the 1990 Gulf War found a relationship between media exposure and trauma-related symptoms (Silver et al., 2013). Exposure to traumatic events may affect individuals’ physical and mental health. This includes individuals that are present during the trauma or those indirectly exposed to the stressor. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, traumatic events are a shocking, scary, or dangerous experience that can affect an individual
Trauma is defined as a deeply distressing or disturbing experience; however, it can impact those who experience the initial experience and those who learn about it. Secondary trauma is a state of emotional distress caused by hearing the firsthand stories of trauma survivors. Trauma is a social disease because it is spread through close relationships impacting family and friends and can be prevented.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines trauma as a very difficult or unpleasant experience that causes someone to have mental or emotional problems usually for a long time (Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, 2015). From a medical perspective trauma is describe as severe damage to a person’s body. Trauma can be cause by multiple factors in a person life. Trauma could stem from a distressing experience of a physical or psychological nature. In recent years’ major natural disasters and acts of terrorism have become more prominent and devastating creating long lasting traumatic effects in individuals lives. Trauma can have a lasting negative impact on a person’s life. The lasting effects of trauma can have a negative effect in development as well as
Sooner or later, we all through a traumatic event that makes life more difficult for us to handle. Trauma can be a sustained series of events (such as an abusive relationship) or a single event. Sadly, even a single traumatic event may compel someone to turn to drugs and alcohol. In fact, it can even cause to addiction to these substances, throwing a person 's life even further off track.
Trauma is an overwhelming experience that causes injury to a person's psychological state of mind. Complex trauma, on the other hand, is a term used by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). In which an increased emphasis is placed on the impact of multiple traumatizing events that occur during child development stages. As well as an increase in sensitivity of those traumas involving close personal relationships, such as caregivers and siblings (Forkey 3). Children exposed to complex trauma suffer from detrimental short-term and long-term effects on every aspect of their child development. These effects significantly impact their overall "quality of life," specifically affecting areas of cognitive functioning, neurobiological
The first article was a study done on the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and the body handlers who sorted through rubble and human remains to find all the victims of the tragedy. Going through experiences like these will often lead to stress disorders, such as PTSD. This study tests that idea using 51 of the body handlers and a survey to see what they went through psychologically at the time of the event and how that relates to their mindset years later. It also set out to test the idea that age, gender, physical exposure to the bombing, knowing a victim, or having disaster experience would change the likelihood of acquiring an anxiety disorder. It was also predicted that using “positive coping strategies including humor, favorable organizational and managerial factors, social support, level of training and use of rituals” (Doughty et al, 2002) would help reduce the chances of a disorder.
Dan Dallas’s Savagery Show and Tell (1978) article discusses the mental health efforts implemented to minimize trauma in young children and their parents after exposure to a homicide that occurred in public view. The murder took place in front of over 50 students of an elementary school in Illinois. Immediately, the elementary school was concerned with the possible psychological effects witnessing the murder could have on the students. In response, the school implemented various methods of processing and coping to minimize potential negative effects. Although Dallas covered an interesting and important topic in his article, there are many flaws with how the article was written. The six primary concerns with Dallas’s article are: ambiguity of
Many psychologists have studied the effect of the media on an individual’s behavior and beliefs about the world. There have been over 1000 studies which confirm the link that violence portrayed through the media can influence the level of aggression in the behavioral patterns of children and adults (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2001). The observed effects include, increased aggressiveness and anti-social behavior towards others, an increased fear of becoming a victim or target of aggressive behavior, becoming less sensitive to violence and victims of violent acts, and concurrently desiring to watch more violence on television and in real-life (A.A.P. 2001). According to John Murray of Kansas State University, there are three main avenues of effects: direct effects, desensitization, and the Mean World Syndrome (Murray, 1995, p. 10). The direct effects of observing violence on television include an increase in an individual’s level of aggressive behavior, and a tendency to develop favorable attitudes and values about using violence to solve conflicts and to get one’s way. As a result of exposure to violence in the media, the audience may become desensitized to violence, pain, and suffering both on television and in the world. The individual may also come to tolerate higher levels of aggression in society, in personal behavior, or in interpersonal interactions. The third effect is known as the Mean World Syndrome, which theorizes that as a result of the amount of violence seen on television and also the context and social perspective portrayed through the media, certain individuals develop a belief that the world is a bad and dangerous place, and begin to fear violence and victimization in real life (A.A.P. 2001).
In today’s fast-paced society, the metropolitan man is expected to have a keen knowledge of the world around him. Intellectual conversation is not only common, but also expected in the upper rungs of society. The media provides an outlet in which an individual can receive up to date news around the globe. Although helpful in increasing an individual’s global conscience, the media has assisted in deadening the senses of the metropolitan individual. On a daily basis the news is littered with images of war, hate and violence, the newscasters report these horrific instances with such a calm air and apathetic tone that they portray no emotions at all. Mass society is teaching the common man that emotions are not needed in reacting to devastating events that do not directly affect the person. Emotion becomes deadened by th...
Children experience decreased development in the left brain when traumatic events occur (Network, n.d.). Imagine being a child and growing up with these types of events occurring. A traumatic event in a child’s life can cause a child to experience a long lasting negative effect. Life events are happening everywhere and more often in the lives of children (Understanding Child Traumatic Stress, n.d.). Trauma can cause them to do three things. First, they try to see what the danger is and how serious it is. Secondly there are strong emotional and physical reactions. Thirdly they attempt to come up with what to do that can help them with the danger. Traumatic events can cause a child to develop differently, which effects the young child stage,
How does childhood trauma affect health over a lifetime? To answer this question, let’s dive deeper into childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime and really try to dissect this complex question. The key points that will be discussed in this essay are: The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, defining emotional trauma on a child, defining physical trauma on a child, and the role trauma plays in our relationships. Also, discussed in this essay is the effects of trauma on our mental and physical health.
Harsh methods used in law enforcement, rapid increase in gun violence, and even the tendency to pull out a smartphone and hit the record button in extreme situations all make it easy to infer that modern society has grown to a point in which empathy has become a thing of the past. Thanks to such great technological advancements over the years, the fact of the matter is that violence can be accessed much more easily by just about anyone now. This ease in accessibility to graphic content has raised many to believe the current media is the cause of a phenomenon referred to as desensitization.
Williams, R. (2007). The psychosocial consequences for children of mass violence, terrorism and disasters. International Review Of Psychiatry, 19(3), 263-277.
Major dying and killing are shown in the mass media to provide awareness to the public of the traumatic events that people are facing, while people may do not want to see this. The news media focus on emotional survivors that show the impact of the traumatic event (Walter, Littlewood & Pickering, 1995). For example, the image of a young Syrian boy’s dead body washed up on a Mediterranean beach showed the refugee crisis. This has shown the awareness of innocent people is dying. It is necessary to view images and videos on sharing sites in order to have the visual information about what is happening around the world. It portrays the humanity of those killed and emotions of those who grieve. It gives people a true sense of what victims are going
...ons are conducted in the field; US soldiers are imitating the techniques they have seen on television.” Not only will it change the behavior of a youth but it will leave an impression on that same youth as they grow older. With countless studies and research done upon this topic, it’s hard not to believe that media violence doesn’t have an impact on a youth’s life no matter how minor it may be. Medical knowledge has shown that by seeing violent content on a daily basis it can cause an emotional response from the brain which has been stated to be a “provocative stimuli” that would cause one to act out in a similar manner. If so, it’s possible for someone’s response to aggression and violence to diminish or lessen as they are essentially being desensitized; their resistance to aggressive behavior would be “untamed” causing them to act out in a violent manner as well.
Television violence causes children and teenagers to be less caring, to lose their inhibitions, and to be less sensitive. In a study on the connection between violence and television done with 1,565 teenage boys over a six-year period in London, William Belson, a British psychologist, found that every time a child saw someone being shot or killed on television they became less caring towards other people (Kinnear 26). William Belson also discovered that every time a child viewed this violence on television, they lost a fragment of their inhibitions towards others (Kinnear 26). In addition to William Belson’s study, studies done by many scientists and doctors show that seeing violence on television causes viewers to become less sensitive to the pain of others (Mudore 1).