Childhood Trauma & Adverse Childhood Experiences do not have to define our destiny!  

Childhood trauma is an injury that requires rehabilitation. It is important to understand that our bodies have the same physiological response when presented with a threat to our emotional well-being such as self-esteem or bullying, as it does when we are presented with a physical threat such as being approached in the woods by a bear. Adverse childhood experiences, in the absence of protective factors (protective factors are the conditions/attributes that we have within ourselves, families, and/or community-at-large that help us to manage stress and difficult experiences), cause toxic stress. Toxic stress affects brain development, the immune system, hormone systems and the way our DNA is read and transcribed. Being in a constant state of stress can result in inflammation in the body, since the stress response will continually stay “turned on” during normal day to day activities. For example, the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis is activated during times of stress.   This is the stress response system of the brain and body. Remember learning about flight or fight when you were a kid? This is the body’s flight or fight response to stress. Being in a constant state of stress cause over activation of this system.  This over-activation of the body’s stress response system can lead to wear and tear on the body.

The adaptive processes that maintain homeostasis in the brain and body through the production of mediators such as adrenalin, cortisol and other chemical messengers is called allostasis. These mediators of the stress response promote adaptation in the aftermath of acute stress, but they also contribute to allostatic overload, the wear and tear on the body and brain that results from being “stressed out.” Adverse childhood experiences inhibit the nucleus incumbent, which is the part of the of the brain that controls pleasure and reward. An increased level of exposure to adverse childhood experiences is associated with an increased risk in adverse health outcomes like COPD, Hepatitis, Depression, Suicidality, Lung Cancer, and Ischemic Heart Disease.

 The pervasiveness of trauma (for children of color) is due to structural inequities and a failure to provide stable housing, stable income, stable employment, safe housing, and safe neighborhoods. The assumption that rehabilitation is not possible is engaging in victim blaming, by only thinking of trauma on the individual level.

Childhood adversity and low household income adversely impact the following three areas of the brain:

• The Amygdala – Brain center responsible for processing fearful and threatening stimuli
• The Hippocampus – Learning & Memory
• The Pre-Frontal Cortex – Regulates response to fear

Adverse childhood experiences and childhood trauma interfere with the mastery of age-appropriate developmental milestones and leave children at risk for PTSD, anxiety and depression.

Traumatic experiences do not have to define our destiny. The brain is malleable and as we learn a new skill, the shape of the brain changes. Environmental factors influence and shape the brain. Our brains are built to change in response to our experiences. The brains of children are constantly being shaped by experiences.

The brain is the organ that is the target of mental health interventions. Behavioral interventions change the brain! They expand our capacity to regulate emotions, and also promote positive brain changes.

There are scientific based strategies that regulate the stress responses that takes our pre-frontal cortex offline, subsequently leading to poor decisions. These strategies include mental health interventions, healthy relationships, mindfulness, being in nature, nutrition strategies and exercise.

Developing new skills through mental health interventions creates new pathways in the form of new neuron connections. We can form new neuron connections throughout our entire lives, and while the majority of our connections happen earlier in life, it is important to understand that these new pathways can be created at all ages.  Neuroplasticity refers to the lifelong capacity of the brain to change and rewire itself in response to the stimulation of learning and experience.

Healthy relationships have the potential to deliver daily doses of healing interactions that serve as an antidote to toxic stress. While science demonstrates that the cumulative dose of early adversity is most harmful (compared to later on in life), it also shows that the cumulative dose of healing nurturing interactions (like being a caring and responsive adult in a young person’s life) is most healing. Supportive, caring and emotionally responsive relationships can serve as a buffer to the harmful effects of adverse childhood experiences.

We are currently facing an unprecedented mental health crisis. It is imperative that we strengthen systems that work toward the rehabilitation of childhood trauma. By not doing so, we will continue to experience increased levels of community violence that will continue to take lives and leave a legacy of trauma.

When children and adolescents are provided with the tools to understand how to recognize what they are feeling and how to effectively manage or respond to those feelings, in order to calm their bodies down, healing begins.