PTSD And Self-Control Disorders In Chocolate

Chocolate is everywhere in daily American life; it’s in our desserts, entire aisles are devoted to it in grocery stores, stores dedicated to its selling, even our holidays are highly associated with chocolate. Due to the abundance of chocolate products; on average, Americans will eat a chocolate product on a weekly basis (Qureshi). A majority of cocoa beans, the key ingredient of chocolate, comes from Western Africa, where child labor and often slavery runs rampant. The laborers and slaves, who cultivate the cocoa, work with dangerous weapons and chemicals in an inhospitable environment. The children, who are being forcibly worked, on the cocoa farms tend to be from the ages 12 to 16 to as young as 5 years old; these young ages are when

Multiple times the terms PTSD, self-doubt, and self-control disorders were mentioned or were a common outcome. PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, is commonly faced by victims of abuse, due to the traumatic events experienced. PTSD can result from beaten for not reaching the daily quota of cocoa beans or from accidentally maiming their arm during the cocoa bean’s harvest. Both of those examples are quite common within the industry. PTSD can inhibit the suffers, as they do not want to be exposed to anything similar to what their PTSD may stems from, which can affect their day to day lives. The self-esteem or self-doubt disorders can lead to lack of, as the name suggests, self esteem; it can also lead to a lack of trusting and meaningful relationships in the suffers’ life. A self-control disorder can involve a victim to attempt to control the small parts of their lives, due to them feeling as if their life is completely out of their control; an example would be an eating disorder. Working a full time job, during childhood, hinders cognitive development, as they can’t attend school. Children who have part-time job score 12% lower than children who have no job, which gives them more time for school and studying. Not only does child labor affect cognitive abilities, but it also affects social development. Children who work twenty hours or more are more likely to turn towards improper behaviors such as drug abuse. These behaviors often affect their already poor education, sometimes leading them to score badly or quit their schooling altogether. The studies that prove this can be applied to the slave laborers in the chocolate industry. The children laboring have little to no access to education, which as the previously shown studies prove, leads to cognitive impairment and further negative effects. Children learn how to interact with other people and how to bond