By Caroline Miller
We tend to think of trauma as the result of a frightening and upsetting event. But many children experience trauma through ongoing exposure, throughout their early development, to abuse, neglect, homelessness, domestic violence or violence in their communities. And it’s clear that chronic trauma can cause serious problems with learning […]
By Starr Commonwealth With grief, sadness is obvious. With trauma, the symptoms can go largely unrecognized because it shows up looking like other problems: frustration; acting out; difficulty concentrating, following directions, or working in a group. Often students are misdiagnosed with anxiety, behavior disorders, or attention disorders rather than understood to have trauma […]
By Barbra Weidlein
Trauma settings
Music therapists have been called upon to support the recovery of individuals and communities following horrific events as well as natural disasters. Settings have included New York City metropolitan area after the 9/11 terrorist attacks; New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina; Umpqua Community College after a mass shooting on campus; […]
By Jeanne Supin The “fight or flight” instinct has served the human species well, helping us respond quickly to threats, but according to child and adolescent psychiatrist and neuroscientist Bruce Perry it can also change our brains for the worse. If the threats we encounter are extreme, persistent, or frequent, we become too […]
By Maria Cohut It is not news that people abused as children are more exposed to clinical depression, anxiety, and a higher risk of death from suicide. But now, researchers have begun to reveal what happens in the brain following this kind of trauma.
According to data provided by the Children’s Bureau of the […]
By Erin Blakemore, NPR When public health officials get wind of an outbreak of Hepatitis A or influenza, they spring into action with public awareness campaigns, monitoring and outreach. But should they be acting with equal urgency when it comes to childhood trauma?
A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical […]
By Bessel A. van der Kolk Brookline, Mass. – As a young psychiatrist, I worked with Vietnam War combat veterans and confronted the astonishing lack of resources to help these men and women who had sacrificed so much for their country. Three decades later, that situation has greatly improved. First, we named the […]
By the Center for Disease Control The CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study is one of the largest investigations of childhood abuse and neglect and later-life health and well-being.
The original ACE Study was conducted at Kaiser Permanente from 1995 to 1997 with two waves of data collection. Over 17,000 Health Maintenance Organization […]
By Leonard Holmes
Studies have demonstrated over and over that childhood abuse and neglect results in permanent changes to the developing human brain. These changes in brain structure appear to be significant enough to potentially cause psychological and emotional problems in adulthood, such as psychological disorders and/or substance abuse.
MRI
Dr. Martin Teicher and his […]
