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A Stressed Child Often Becomes a Stressed Adult, Depending on Support Networks

By HERWriter Guide
 
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Children are resilient. That's something we hear all the time and for the most part it's true. Children often cope with big changes, illnesses or even deaths better than adults do.

They tend to simplify the situation by bringing it back to basics and by taking everything day by day -- something we adults should also try.

But children are not immune to stress, and unresolved or unacknowledged stress can follow them in to adulthood, causing those stresses to fester and enter into other aspects of the now-grown child's life.

CNN's heath section interviewed Dr. Rajita Sinha, director of the Yale Stress Center and a researcher on stress, addiction and anxiety about the effects of childhood stress as children mature into adults. Rather than become resilient due to facing stress (and even overcoming problems), adults actually become less able to deal with stress because of the residue left from the emotional trauma of years gone by.

The stressed child's brain develops differently, and as an adult, reacts more negatively than an adult who came from a happy, positive childhood. Since the brain can adapt to different situations quite quickly, Dr. Sinha answered the question on why adults often can't adapt after a childhood that included trauma:

"The stress pathway is developing during childhood. The stress system needs time to grow and become fully functional. The same goes for the reward system, the pleasure pathway which responds to high-fat, high-sugar foods. So you’re right, we are one of the most adaptive animals, but we also take a long time to develop and it is during that period of development when we want to protect our children. And unfortunately that is eroding, in terms of children who have to live with all kinds of adversity."

What does this mean? It means that without good family, social and school support, even the strongest and most adaptive of children will fail to pull through and resolve mental and emotional issues as they grow into adults.

As we live in a society of broken families and a not-so-stellar public school system, children are not emerging as resilient as they once were. Children of divorce, especially acrimonious divorces (as many are) are less apt to face stress well as adults and are less likely to form positive relationships later in life, as well as being more likely to divorce themselves.

Child sexual abuse and severe physical/emotional abuse is an unfortunate and violent fact in the lives of many children.

In an EmpowHER article, Risks for Psychological Illness for Child Abuse Survivors, writer Elizabeth Stannard Gromisch stated that "... Reuters Health reported that when the study looked at the rates of the psychological disorder in people who had been sexually abused before the age of 16 and those who had never been abused, they found that 1.9 percent of abuse victims developed schizophrenia compared to 0.7 percent of people in the general population. In women who are survivors of either child sexual abuse or child physical abuse, they have an increased risk of alcohol problems, according to a study published in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. Health Day News reported that the study included nearly 3,700 women who participated in the 2005 U.S. National Alcohol Survey."

Most children face some kind of trauma in their lives. Abuse, divorce, and death are just a few. But it appears from the research done by the Yale Stress Center that one of the key factors of arriving into adulthood as scar-free as possible is the reaction of others to the stress placed on the child -- as well as the child's own innate way of coping. Both are very much linked.

None of us really enter adulthood without a emotional scar or two from our childhood. But when parents, teachers and the communities who rally round their children, provide support and comfort, children are far more likely to develop into adults can deal with stress better. This is less likely for children let down or ignored by what should have been their support systems.

If you are an adult who was abused as a child, join our private support group here: https://www.empowher.com/groups/Sexual-Abuse-Recovery-Group

SOURCES:

CNN.com. CNN Health. Web. January 16, 2012. http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/07/stress-we-face-as-children-stay...

EmpowHER.com. Mental Health. Risks for Psychological Illness for Child Abuse Survivors . Web. January 16 2012.
https://www.empowher.com/mental-health/content/risks-psychological-illne...

Reviewed January 17, 2012
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith

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We value and respect our HERWriters' experiences, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice, although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.