Being sexually abused is very difficult and can cause long-lasting mental scars. At the age of 6, Hailey Hardcastle was sexually abused and it had long lasting effects on her mental health. After her experiences, Hailey found that she “found certain numbers, colours, and shapes scary”. She had to do things in threes. [She] was obsessive about making sure all my teachers liked [her] would have panic attacks because [she] was so anxious about not having perfect homework or not making this adult proud of me. "(Finan and Herbst). At such a young age, complicated feelings such as the ones that she had were very hard to navigate through, even with the help and guidance of a parent. Many times, these feelings are associated with PTSD after an event such as what happened to her, and understanding how certain …show more content…
Hailey Hardcastle knew how important it was for students to have days off, especially when struggling with mental illness. After her many struggles with mental health, Hailey realized that not everyone's parents were as supportive as her mom was, which sparked her and “fellow students Sam Adamson, Lori Riddle, and Derek Evans, [to work] with two pro bono lobbyists [and] draft language for [a] mental health days bill,” (Ralph). This mental health days bill was passed in Oregon in 2019 to allow students a set number of excused mental health day absences. If Hailey Hardcastle had never fought for this law, most states would most likely not even have considered having days like these. Many kids would have kept on suffering in silence, not being able to take a day for themselves. After the law in Oregon was passed due to Hailey Hardcastle's accomplishments, 11 more states followed suit in passing laws to help with the ongoing mental health crisis. Before Hailey’s mental health days law, the country’s suicide rate increased by 57% from 2000 to 2018
The first happened when she was cooking food for herself on the stove, and she caught on fire. Instead of reacting how a “typical” three year-old would, if burned (never going near the stove or fire again), she did the exact opposite. Although she was covered in third-degree burns all over her body, she still went home and kept on cooking her food as if nothing had happened. “The neighbor lady who had driven me to the hospital was surprised that I didn’t run in the opposite direction from any fire I saw” (15). Here, she experienced post-traumatic growth because she did not fall back to the baseline, but exceeded it by being able to not feel afraid or distressed by the traumatic event that had occurred. As time passed, the traumatic events began to happen more frequently. The next traumatic experiences happened to all be forms of sexual assault. Beginning with the neighbor boy who inappropriately touched her, moving to her uncle fondling her, and ending with the stranger that climbed through her window into her bed—waking to him groping her. Finally, she found the courage to tell her mom about her uncle touching her, but her mother told her to brush it off and act as if it never had taken place. “She said that
Margery Kempe: mother, mystic, mentally ill? Throughout The Book of Margery Kempe, Margery is burdened with the gift of tears. To onlookers, her behaviour seems erratic and threatening; strangers and acquaintances often wonder if devils possessing her cause her passionate wailing. Margery is often questioned about her tears, and isolated from people who fail to understand that she is one of Christ’s “chosen souls” (24). Margery sees these social difficulties as trials of her faith, and says, “For ever the more slander and reproof that she suffered, the more she increased in grace and in devotion of holy meditation” (Kempe 4). Even when her community berates her, she maintains that her tears are a gift and a form of penance, that her communications with Christ are genuine, and that she is not inspired by devils but inspired by the Holy Ghost. Her beliefs fit with her contemporary cultural context, as demonstrated by those who believe her, but Margery’s dissenters also have a point. Margery’s excessive tears are peculiar and frightenging, and her communication with God is indemonstrable except by her own word. Margery considers herself a healthy and holy woman, but were she alive today, one might consider her mentally ill.
The portrayal of people being sickly creatures has been used in Hollywood film for a very long time. This has been in the endeavor of putting the viewing public in the shoes of the patient and entertain them with over the top portrayals of disease. For patients that are women in particular this has been achieved by defining them along the lines of vague terms such as them being over emotional and unstable. Despite the advancement experienced by the society, women have not yet fully seen the goal of equality realize fruition. With the expansion of the psychiatric and psychological terminologies, there now additional ways via which mental illness can be ascribed as a weakness for men and women portrayed in Hollywood film. This is best exemplified by the key character in the film Girl Interrupted. In this film, the key character, a woman, is given these labels sourced from psychiatric terminologies. As such, throughout life, she has the difficult task of endeavoring to shed off these forced identities and try to find her own identity. These life struggles are brought on when she was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. With this diagnosis, she earns a year-long stay in a prescribed mental institution. Her dream is to become a writer. With her new found diagnosis, however, the probability of her realizing her dream dims. In reality this would only magnified in a 1960 society, where someone suffering from such an ailment would as a woman have even fewer chances of success.
High school students should be allowed to take an excused mental health day is they feel it is necessary. By first exploring the psychological benefits gained, then examining the harms of the status quo, and finally addressing the concern of education, the importance of excused mental health days can can become evident.
Secondly, we would do an evaluation of Kelly’s trauma exposure history, which considers the age of onset, the nature and type of the trauma, and the number of traumas (different types and recurrence rate). Briere and Lanktree (2013) find that “clients may interpret trauma labels in different ways,” and so “evaluation of trauma exposure is often more effective when it employs behavioural descriptions of the event (s)” (p. 13). Structured measures, such as the Initial Trauma Review for Adolescence (ITR-A), use behavioural descriptors and can be adapted to accommodate the client where they are, which would be the best fit for Kelly (Briere and Lanktree, 2013, p. 177-182). From what we have learned talking with Kelly, she was psychologically and sexually abused by her uncle, Steve, for around a year, beginning when she was twelve.
According to the Center for Disease Control, one in every three girls and one in every five boys are sexually abused by an adult at some time during childhood. Child abuse is a vicious cycle. After a child is abused it puts a deterrent on his or her ability to succeed in life. Examples of this are adults who were abused as children are twice as likely to become abusers themselves. The majority of people in prisons were abused as children. It is no wonder why childhood trauma has such a horrible impact on a person’s personality and brain. Trauma is a serious consideration in special education. When a child is exposed to a traumatic event, such as abuse, neglect or death, it can have a lifelong effect on their mental health. Although there are numerous effects followed by childhood trauma the brain chemistry of neurotransmitters is most affected.
Sexual abuse cannot be clearly defined with ease. In fact, sexual abuse is an umbrella term for any sort of situation, whether or not it involves physical contact, in which a sexually immature child is exposed to anything sexual in nature. Because no child is psychologically mature enough for sexual stimulation, the complex feelings associated with it are mentally and emotionally disfiguring. Children who have been sexually abused experience an array of negative emotions such as shame, guilt and anger, and may display oddly withdrawn or distrustful behaviors. They cannot help but feel that they somehow brought the abuse unto themselves (Saisan, et al). One major contributing factor to these severe psychological consequences is the concept of trust. Sexual abuse is, in most cases, committed by a parent or other trusted adult figure. While children are naïve on such adult topics, they can still get an overwhelming feeling that the attention is wrong, yet they are unsure of how to cope with it. If the child has an emotional atta...
Children who have been abused are left with more than just physical scars. They have many psychological, emotional, and behavioral problems as well. Their social lives are affected dramatically, and they suffer lifelong effects. (Lambert) Children tend to be emotionally disturbed years after the abuse, many have IQ scores lower than average, and some have even been classified as mentally retarded. Children who have been abused also show signs of personality and neurological changes. (Oates 119) Sexual abuse has been linked to nightmares, bed wetting, sadness, clinging behavior, and anxiety. Children also showed more aggressive and anti-social behaviors. (Oates 127) Adults who were sexually abused are more prone to depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and drug or alcohol problems. (Oates 132-133) Studies show overwhelming evidence of the effects abuse can have on a child, and the way the effects continue into their adult lives. (Oates 135)
Child abuse is a serious issue in today's society. Many people have been victims of child abuse. There are three forms of child abuse: physical, emotional, and sexual. Many researchers believe that sexual abuse is the most detremental of the three. A middle-aged adult who is feeling depressed will probably not relate it back to his childhood, but maybe he should. The short-term effects of childhood sexual abuse have been proven valid, but now the question is, do the long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse affect middle-aged adults? Many contradicting views arise from the subject of childhood sexual abuse. Researchers and psychologists argue on this issue. Childhood sexual abuse has the potential to damage a child physically, emotionally, and behaviorally for the rest of his or her childhood, and the effects have been connected to lasting into middle-aged adulthood.
“Numerous studies have demonstrated that experiencing child abuse can lead to a range of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems” (Moylan, 2010). Precious’s internalization of depression and emotional numbing are all factors that contribute to her self-concept. Study shows that “childhood sexual abuse has been correlated with higher levels of depression, guilt, shame, self-blame, eating disorders, somatic concerns, anxiety, dissociative patterns, repression, denial, sexual problems, and relationship problems” (Hall, 2011). The implications of sexual abuse are often detrimental to the mental state of an adolescent. Psychiatric evaluations show that Precious suffers from symptoms of PTSD and Major Depression
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
Abuse can happen to anyone, at any age, at any time. This is repetitive acts of behavior of wanting to maintain power and have control over someone whether it be through childhood, adolescents, or adulthood. This subject is sensitive as it impacts so many different people around the world. The topic of abuse is not just a family matter, it comes in all forms, such as sexual, emotional, and physical. Abuse is accompanied by the long term emotional tolls, especially on children because their brains are still developing and can take abuse harder than others. One question to ask, is how does one overcome abuse? As children and adolescents develop, how do they function emotionally and physically? These traumatic experiences that happen through
When a child has been physically abused, there are noticeable bruises, or other effects on the person. On the other hand, most people do not recognize or even know the effects of emotional abuse. Emotional abuse can deeply wound a child, and as the child grows, the scars will remain; the scars that people do not see that can cause a lifetime of suffering. These invisible scars can affect a person’s development as they struggle to accept themselves from childhood through adolescence to adulthood. Emotional abuse negatively impacts an individual’s self-esteem, which can in turn, cause depression and substance abuse later in adulthood.
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
It is most important to understand that children and teens of all racial, religious, ethnic, gender and age groups, at all socio-economic levels are sexually abused. Although there are risk factors that may increase the possibility of sexual abuse, sex abuse can be found in all types of families, communities, and cultures (The Scope of, 2016). Childhood sexual abuse is an important issue to address because the impact of sexual does not end when the abuse ends. Childhood trauma follows into adulthood and can have long-range effects. “Survivors of sexual abuse are at significantly greater risks for severe and chronic mental health issues, including alcoholism, depression, anxiety, PTSD and high risk behaviors” (The Scope Of, 2016). Victims may experience traumatic sexualization, or the shaping of their sexuality in “developmentally inappropriate” and “interpersonally dysfunctional” ways (Effects of Child, 2012). “A child who is the victim of prolonged sexual abuse usually develops low self-esteem, a feeling of worthlessness and an abnormal or distorted view of sex. The child may become withdrawn and mistrustful of adults, and can become suicidal” (Effects of Child, 2012). Overall, the effects and impact of childhood sexual abuse are long lasting and do not diminish when the abuse ends, their childhood trauma follows them into