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Childhood Trauma

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Webster’s dictionary describes the word trauma as: “a disordered psychic or behavioral state resulting from severe mental or emotional stress or physical injury” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). These emotional stressors can be caused from a wide variety of situations. Examples of damaging stressors can include: sexual abuse, verbal abuse, physical abuse, exposure to violence or death, as well as many others. The powerful effect of these stressors can ultimately lead to deep psychological damage. The term “trauma”, however, is specific to the affected individual. Though an event may be extremely traumatic for one person, a different person, on the other hand, may not be affected at all. The way a person reacts to trauma can be linked to their environment, …show more content…
There were a lot of peer reviewed articles on this subject in particular. I did notice, however, that the majority of the studies were conducted on victims who had suffered some kind of sexual abuse. I also noticed that the articles were very disorder specific. There articles about the effects of childhood abuse mostly focused on one, specific effect. It would have been helpful to have an article about all of the possible effects. It also would have been interesting to read about the effects of traumas outside the circle of “abusive trauma”. Though a vast amount of information regarding the effect of childhood trauma is out there, I do think more is necessary. I think more life-long studies need to be conducted on the victims of trauma. I also could not find much information on what to do for treatment. Most articles stated that the victims should simply “seek professional help”. However due to the cost of therapy, this may not be an option for everyone. It would be helpful to have information for how to heal without the use of a professional. Ultimately, I chose this article because I know many people who have been afflicted by a childhood trauma. I wanted to learn about why it has the potential to be extremely damaging. I also wanted to understand the neurological effect of trauma on children. Though I am no expert on the subject, I like to think that this paper helps me grasp the basics of the effects of childhood

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