Bibliography on Distressing Experiences during Early Years of a Child and Its Impact

August 27, 2021 by Essay Writer

Lost Innocence

There are many negative repercussions a child can face as they grow up. These repercussions can then lead to making poor decisions in their life. Like in Jimmy Santiago Baca’s memoir, A Place to Stand: The Making of a Poet, he writes about a graphic event he witnessed as a child. He states, “I scratched at the ground with my fingers and shook my head to blur what was happening. Dizzy and terrified, all I could do was brace my knees to my chest and hug myself in fear as their bodies bucked back and forth and the iron legs of the bed scratched at the wooden floor” (8). Baca clearly gave a vivid image for the reader to portray what was going through his head during this event.Experiencing something traumatic can later affect the person as an adult, resulting in psychological problems.

Coleman, Ian, Garad, Yasmin, Zeng, Yiye, Naicker, Kiyuri, Weeks, Murray, Patten, Scott, Jones, Peter, Thompson, Angus, Wild, T. “Stress Development of Depression and Heavy Drinking in Adulthood: Moderating Effects of Childhood Trauma”. Social Psychiatric Epidemiology: The International Journal for Research in Social and Genetic Epidemiology and Mental Health Service. The authors in this article provide information based on how a variety of childhood traumatic events can lead to depression. They conducted a study using a high number of people of ages eighteen and above and asked them specific questions about their past events. Some questions that were asked include” …family problems due to parental substance abuse; and physical abuse by someone ‘close’. They then concluded that the people who experienced more than one type of traumatic even are at a higher risk falling into depression opposed to the people who had one traumatic event or none at all. Because a child’s mentality is a lot more vulnerable, witnessing or physically experiencing a traumatic event can easily adhere to them for quite a while.in the article, it discloses numerous events that could have affected a child such as “… a frightening experience that was thought about for years after”. This plainly expresses how seriously a child can be damaged when undergoing an appalling event. Not only does it highly affect them but it lasts for a considerable amount of time. The child can then end up acquiring symptoms of depression. As it states in the article, “Reporting two or more childhood traumatic events was consistently associated with adult depression”. this quote explains how likely it can be for a person to have depression obtain one’s mind.

The authors in this periodical conducted a study on men, who would occasionally drink, and the relevance to their drinking because of previous childhood trauma. They used a questionnaire that included questions about any traumatic experience as a child. Whether it be physical abuse, neglect or sexual abuse. In the questionnaire it was a “ranging from Never True to Very Often True” to help determine the severity of their experience.

They also “included age, race and education”. An awful experience can easily make a person turn to negative things. If that experience is a constant strain in their minds throughout a child’s life when growing up, they usually try to find ways to block off the thought of any traumatic event. Usually, a common coping method people resort to is alcohol. Sarah F. Eams and the further authors state, “Whereas a childhood trauma/adversity is a significant factor for alcohol-related problems in adulthood” (2). This quotation essentially explains how the cause of a tragic event can affect a person so negatively they can fall into the habit of drinking. This can be seen how it impacts a person seriously to the point where it can easily influence them in a terribly way.

In this article the authors write about the connection between suicide, drug usage and childhood trauma, they use a questionnaire from CTQ (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire) to find a link whether a negative childhood experience is a cause for the usage of drugs and a reason for suicide attempts. “We observed an increased hazard of suicidal behavior among persons who reported experiencing severe to extreme levels of childhood physical, emotional and sexual abuse”. In this quote, it explains how the higher the malice someone experience the higher there is a risk of suicidal behavior. This clearly exposes the after-effects of how such traumatic experiences can take upon someone. It leads to the point where a person’s mental health can drop to such a miserable state that they resort to suicide.

Altogether, those who once suffered through any type of childhood trauma can easily end up suffering throughout their adult life. There are many kids that can easily avoid such future if this is addressed more often. Also, the encouragement about speaking out about this can help evade someone from going through any of this and getting the help they need. A child’s innocence should not be taken away from them. Therefore, the more this is spoken out about the lower the circumstances of another child experiencing it.

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