Psychological Risk Factors

Psychological Risk Factors: The Impact of Trauma, Abuse, and Neglect

Stress is induced by overwhelming threats to physical or psychological well-being, causing changes to occur in the body and brain. There are different types of stress. In early development, stress can have positive effects, but can also be destructive to brain organization and development.[8] Positive stress, such as learning new skills, dealing with appropriate levels of frustration, etc. is necessary for human development. However, toxic stress or complex trauma can be damaging to brain development.

When infants experience non-nurturing interactions with their parent/caregivers, including abuse, neglect, and maltreatment, the neurochemistry of their brain changes. Module 2 showed how high levels of stress can increase cortisol in an infant’s system and have a significant impact on brain development. The effects of increased levels of stress in children can compound the impact of abuse, neglect, and trauma across developmental domains. For example, infants may develop the propensity to over react or under react to future stress. This can alter accurate processing and assessment of new inputs and information, affecting cognitive and social-emotional development.

The following video, “Toxic Stress Derails Healthy Development”, created by the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, further explains the impact of toxic stress on healthy development.

Video 1: “Toxic Stress Derails Healthy Development”[9]

<<Back to Page 3 Page 4 Continue to Page 5>>