Childhood trauma affects brain development, and creates new patterns of behavior resulting in an automatic/unconscious preference for “survival-in-the-moment” reactions of fight, flight, or freeze. Childhood trauma can lead to traumatic stress where a child is unable to regulate emotional states and in certain moments experiences his or her current environment as extremely threatening even when it is relatively safe. This may be expressed in such a way that it looks more like ADHD, anxiety disorders, ODD/CD, DMDD, or depression.

Watch the two videos below:

Bessel van der Kolk is a Psychiatrist whose research since the 1970’s has explored the effects of post-traumatic stress. This short video speaks of the impact of trauma on the brain. Watch the video below.

In her TED talk on “How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Across a Lifetime,” Dr. Nadine Burke Harris explains that the repeated stress of abuse, neglect and parents struggling with mental health or substance abuse issues has real, tangible effects on the development of the brain. When watching the video, think of how individual strengths, childhood interventions, strong relationships and trauma sensitive environments might mitigate against ACE outcomes. Watch the video below: