Impact of Early Trauma on A Child’s Brain
Exposure to traumatic situations at a young age can impact a child’s brain in various ways, which reflects on their behaviors as they grow. At a tender age, children’s brains are moulded by their daily experiences, which makes them respond in particular ways, and learn some characteristics, which may be positive or negative depending on the encounter (Tam, 2010). Tina was a young girl exposed to various traumatic situations, including sodomy, rape, absence of parental care, and an abusive environment.
Dr Perry presumed that Tina’s brain had already been damaged psychologically, making her have those characteristics. Dr Perry stated that even though Tina had been removed from the abusive environment, the damage had already occurred within her brain. The brain controls all behaviors, thoughts and emotions, which develop following life experiences, and thus Tina’s character had something to do with some damage to her brain due to Trauma. Stress related hormones get altered when children get exposed to early life stressful situations like the ones Tina had. Since Tina’s rain was still developing during the two year trauma encounter, her stress hormones had been altered and were still unusually in her late childhood.
Although the brain has many parts, they all work together to accomplish certain behaviors, and Tina seemed to have problems with nearly all parts of the brain, following the things she could not normally accomplish at her age (Horst & Hazel, 2008). For instance, Tina’s brainstem could have been affected since she had sleep and attention issues. Also, her cortex and diencephalon were affected due to her inability to coordinate fine motor movements. All of these were due to the impact stressful experiences had on her stress tolerance neural systems, which had not fully developed at her young age.
Impact of Sexual Abuse to Tina On Her Relationships and Behaviors
Tina had known men to be abusive, unprotected, uncaring, and wanting sexual relations with her. This follows her early experience with the babysitter’s son, who had sexually abused her in unimaginable ways, and her mother’s boyfriends, who were always there for sexual matters. Tina’s first experience with Dr Perry was unusual for a child her age, as she sat on his lap and opened his zip since she imagined that he must also want sexual activities with her and nothing else (Perry & Szalavitz, 2017). From this situation, it is clear that Tina never knew she could have proper relations with men, as she had a predetermined notion about what men require from her due to her childhood sexual encounters.
Tina thought she could begin proper friendships by initiating sexual behaviors during the first encounters. At school, she had been reported to make sexual advances to other learners, presumably her way of making friends (Horst & Hazel, 2008). Moreover, following her sexual abuse, which had also occurred to her brother, Tina still practised sexualised play at home with her brother, as her mother, Sara, presumed since she was not at home most of the time due to work (Perry & Szalavitz, 2017). Tina never felt ashamed of doing some sexual traits in public as she thought it was normal. This was inappropriate since the siblings could end up doing things that should not happen between them, especially not to children (Tam, 2010). Tina and her brother had been denied the chance to make proper and normal sibling relationships as they had both been raped, sodomised and aggressively treated by the same oppressor.
Interventions by Dr Perry
Dr Perry had found Tina to be a unique patient, and she didn’t think all the knowledge she had leant about psychiatry would help solve Tina’s problems. Dr, Perry first looked at Tina’s history and current behaviors and tried to match them with the many disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). She tried to make a definitive diagnosis following the DSM and identified attention deficit disorder as fitting to Tina’s behaviors, although it didn’t seem right. Dr Perry discarded this diagnosis, which she had arrived by the help of Dr Stine (Perry & Szalavitz, 2017). I found this technique to be of little use to solving helping Tina.
This approach entailed shifting focus from Tina’s symptoms, and understanding her experiences, likes, dislikes, how she thinks and her daily life in general. Dr Perry listened more, watched more of Tina and her family, and gathered useful information on the roots of Tina’s behaviours. Tina had received little kindness in her life, especially from the male gender. She looked at Dr Perry with much uncertainty when he acted kindly to her, with no interest in sexual matters but wanting to treat her as a child. Furthermore, Dr Perry gave Tina’s family a ride home, ensuring they got home safe from the ice-cold weather, through which she learnt more about Tina’s environment. Thus, Dr Perry understood Tina’s problem and how she could best assist her with their therapy sessions.
Social Environment and Its Impact on Recovering From Trauma
Tina had no extended family members that cared for her and her family. There is no mention of a father figure in Tina’s life, and her grandfather was unsupportive. No uncles or older brothers in her life could paint a good picture of men in Tina’s life by being protective and loving to her and her family (Perry & Szalavitz, 2017). However, Tina’s experience with Dr Perry created a safe environment for Tina, as she, for the first time in her life, met a man who didn’t want to take advantage of her but was interested in a better life for her. Dr Perry ensured that Tina had positive experiences and was no longer afraid, which helped her brain heal and trigger positive behaviors from within her. Since her behaviors emanated from the immense stress her brain had endured, having good experiences reversed the damage and geared Tina into a more acceptable character.
References
Horst, R., & Hazel, A. (2008). The boy who was raised as a dog and other stories from a child psychiatrist’s notebook. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 47(9), 1097–1098. Web.
Perry, B. D., & Szalavitz, M. (2017). The boy who was raised as a dog: And other stories from a child psychiatrist’s notebook–What traumatised children can teach us about loss, love, and healing. Hachette UK.
Tam, P. (2010). Book review: The boy who was raised as a dog, and other stories from a child psychiatrist’s notebook. Australasian Psychiatry, 18(2), 179–180. Web.