By Stacey Steinberg Children may be processing the disruptions in their lives right now in ways the adults around them do not expect: acting out, regressing, retreating or even seeming surprisingly content. Parents need to know that all of this is normal, experts say, and there are some things we can do to […]
By Jayne O’Donnel and Mabinty Quarshie USA TODAY SAVANNAH, Ga. – Latrelle Huff says her twins were conceived by rape.
Now she blames domestic violence for her children’s health problems.
The Georgia woman says she had been in an abusive, on-and-off relationship for six years when she became pregnant. While pregnant, she says, the conflict […]
By Kirsten Weir The first time Nathan Fox, PhD, stepped into a Romanian orphanage, he was struck by the silence. “The most remarkable thing about the infant room was how quiet it was, probably because the infants had learned that their cries were not responded to,” says Fox, who directs the Child Development […]
By Chester Street Foundation
Coronavirus is giving rise to another tragic issue. Child abuse. Hospitals in Texas have reported seeing an increase in child abuse cases, which they believe is driven by the increase in psychological stress at home and children out of school during the day. Furthermore, the group who most often […]
By Elizabeth Hartney, PhD Child abuse is known to repeat itself from generation to generation. Although not universal, the children of people with addictions are at higher risk of all types of abuse, and of developing addictions. The reasons why people who were sexually abused in childhood go on to have abusive relationships […]
By VICKI ZAKRZEWSKI If I asked you to tell me what you remembered most about your favorite teacher growing up, I bet you wouldn’t say much about the subject matter. Instead, I’d expect you to describe how he or she made you feel as you learned that subject matter—the sense of excitement or […]
By: E.B. Johnson When you experience childhood trauma, your life and your soul are altered forever. Those who suffer loss, abuse or neglect early-on in life can often suffer from serious psychological and emotional disorders for decades to come, changing who they are and destroying their ability to foster caring and nurturing relationships […]
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 Popova “A purely disembodied human emotion is a nonentity,” William James asserted in his revolutionary 1884 theory of how our bodies affect our feelings. Two generations later, Rilke wrote in a beautiful letter of advice to a young woman: “I am not one of those who neglect the body in order […]
By Benjamin E. Saunders, PhD and Zachary W. Adams, PhD
The epidemiology of traumatic experiences in childhood is a key context for research, clinical treatment, program management, and policy development. This article discusses the conceptual, methodological, and programmatic challenges in precisely answering even relatively simple questions concerning the basic prevalence and incidence of […]
