Childhood Trauma Among Children Who Are Victims Of Violence: Effects Throughout Lifetime

 

Childhood trauma can have a profound impact on an individual's physical, emotional, and mental health throughout lifetime. Here are some ways childhood trauma can affect health:

1. Childhood trauma causes sleep disturbances, including insomnia and apnea.

2. It causes post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) which can persist in  adulthood.

3. Childhood trauma is a significant risk factor for developing anxiety and depression.

4. Individuals who experienced childhood trauma are more likely susceptible to substance abuse problems, smoking and drunkenness.

5. It leads to suicidal thoughts and actions.

6. Childhood trauma can alter the structures and functions of the brain, particularly in regions involved in emotional regulations and stress    response.

7. It disrupts the balance of neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, which regulate mood and emotional response.

8. Childhood trauma leads to difficulties in forming and maintaining healthy relationships.

9. It causes increased impulsivity and aggression, particularly in individuals with a history of childhood trauma.

10. It leads to increased revictimization. 

Interventions and treatment methods of childhood trauma include:

1. The Trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) is an evidence-based treatment for childhood trauma. 

2. The Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a therapy approach which can help individuals process and integrate traumatic memories.

3. Mindfulness-based interventions such as mindfulness stress reduction (MBSR), can help traumatized persons manage stress and regulate emotions.

4. Psychiatric care, including medication management, can be essential for individuals with severe mental health and symptoms related to childhood trauma.    

The WHO has indeed addressed the issue of child trauma and its effects. According to WHO, childhood trauma can have severe and lasting consequences on child's physical and mental health, including increased risk of chronic diseases, mental health disorders, and substance abuse. The WHO has emphasized the importance of prevention and early intervention in addressing childhood trauma. Some recommended remedial measures include:

1. Creating a safe and nurturing environment that promotes healthy development and helps child build resilience.

2. Identifying and addressing childhood trauma early on to prevent long-term consequences

3. Adopting multidisciplinary approaches are essential. Involving healthcare professionals, social workers, and educators in providing comprehensive support to children affected by trauma

4. Implementing community-based programmes that promote healthy childhood development and provide support to families and caregivers

The WHO estimates that over 40 million children below the age of 15 fall victim to violence each year. The ensuing traumas vary according to the gravity of the violence and the child's personal experience and can, in the long run, have medical and psychosocial consequences. The magnitude of the problem of childhood trauma at the global level is so intimidating that the World Mental Health Day was devoted to the theme "Effects of Trauma and Violence on Children and Adolescents." The WHO defines violence to children as child maltreatment in all its forms, that is, physical and/ or emotional maltreatment, sexual molestation, child abandon or neglect, commercial and other forms of exploitations, causing an untold harm to the health of a child, their survival, their development, or their dignity in the context of a relation of responsibility, confidence, or power. Child maltreatment is often accompanied by verbal violence which consists of denying children their personality, hurling abusive words at them, or forbidding them to enquire about their rights and/ or to carry out their activities. This psychological violence results in discrediting and depriving the child and can cause the child to be misunderstood or be deliquent. The ensuing traumas can be medical, causing physical wounds, shock, or serious lesions. There could also be psychiatric wounds, leaving behind emotional memories of a painful event deep-rooted in the brain. 

At a WHO consultation held in Geneva, in 2001, on the health sector's response to sexual violence, a study conducted in many countries in the Region showed that 36% of girls and 29% of boys said that they have been victims of sexual violence at tender age. In 1991, Save the the Children, an NGO, published a document on 700 verified cases of sexual abuse of children in a single country. Sexual violence has serious consequences such as unwanted pregnancies, scuttled academic pursuits, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as gonorrhoea, syphilis, HIV/ AIDS, and indirect consequences such as alcoholism, drug addiction, sexual deviance, and difficulty in or refusal of sexual intercourse to partners. Sexual violence can also cause fear, anxiety, depression, as well as disorders relating to behaviours, sleep, feeding, and speech, and may even result in suicide, or suicide attempts. Some young girls and women quickly commit suicide when sexually abused or molested!

Female genital mutilation considered not only as a form of sexual violence but also as a violation of female children's rights, involves partial or total removal of the clitoris and other sex organs of girls. These practices lead to serious infections, profuse bleeding, and septicaemia, painful sexual intercourse, excessive menstrual bleeding, painful menstruation, impaired urine retention, risks of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including gonorrhoea, staphylococcus, syphilis, HIV/ AIDS, complicated child delivery, and depression. The scope of the problems of female genital mutilation is such that WHO has drawn up a responsive plan of action for the African Region where the practice is commonplace. Female child circumcision in Africa is carried out most times by old great, great grandmothers who are septuagenarians or nonagenarians. After performing the ceremonial dance, an old woman dressed in white clothes will come with rusted, blunt, and untreated razor to cut off the clitoris from the little female child. This genital mutilation gives more excruciating pains since the razor cannot cut off the clitoris at once. In some cases, circumcisions are not properly done both in male and female children. In such csses, the circumcision exercise must be repeatrd in order to correct it. Children falling victims to violence do so mainly within the family, community, schools, or as a result of wars. In war situations, children exposed to various forms of violence undergo traumas that can interrupt their process of development, triggering off serious psychical disorders and turn them into deliquents and lifetime criminals. Children who are not subjected to violence themselves, but do witness the perpetration of violence to others can subsequently grow up to be violent themselves in tandem with Albert Bandura's Social Learning Theory which stated that children learn by observing and imitating whatever they see and hear. For example, there was a drug baron in South America who was gruesomely killed together with his wife in the presence of the couple's three little children. One of them, a female child, grew up and became a terrible serial killer by seeing the scene where her parents were killed. That is the extent traumatic experiences can go in the lives of children who fell victims to childhood trauma. According to experts, such children are more likely to beat up their spouses when they get married at adulthood compared to their counterparts brought up in a non-violent and peaceful homes. 

The greater the trauma suffered from violence, the more serious are the ensuing problems, mental and psychosocial, in particular. The situation is further aggravated by weaknesses in prevention approaches and activities, and especially by lack of access to affordable treatment. The social and monetary cost of violence is estimated at several millions of United States Dollars. In 1997, WHO identified violence as a public health problem, and its prevention as a global priority. The WHO has urged its Member States to, as a matter of urgency, take strategic decisions and make choices that can impact positively on integrated and comprehensive management of violence, including the treatment of mental and behavioral disorders. The WHO has also recommended that Member States develop and/ or strengthen mental health policies, promote multidisciplinary and multisectoral approach to care within the community, promote the education of communities and families, develop human resources, establish a community-based surveillance systems and support violence prevention and management research. Countries are urged to respect the human rights of children and make violence control a priority so as to reduce and even eradicate the scourge and its attendant traumas. 

In conclusion, as we strive to unravel the spate of childhood trauma and children subjected to violence, it is clear that acknowledging their effects, providing prevention strategies, and fostering resilience are crucial steps towards a life of safety, success, and peace.

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