Life is full of experiences for people, and those experiences come in different forms – god and bad. Besides, each of experiences has its positive and negative effects. However, the common big issues in the world that make people worry about themselves are the bad experiences, attitudes, or shocks. Since these attributes constitute the main problem of psychological trauma, people who have suffered from them since childhood may as well continue with them during adulthood. Psychological trauma can happen from a number of events, such as a rough or negligent childhood, a divorce, and even the death of someone close who was loved. Various manifestations of trauma were researched for countless decades, and people have come to discover that trauma can be best examined and worked out by professionals, like psychiatrists. Professionals who study trauma have also come to realize that psychological trauma has negative impacts on emotional, mental, and also physical health.
The first negative impact of psychological trauma is entirely emotional because when someone goes through a traumatic event, their emotions are affected and may change forever. Any person who goes through the traumatic event has to relive and think about the related issues which then causes greater stress and evokes new emotions, such as happiness and sadness, to change without being able to explain, why. Emotional effects from psychological trauma could be best observed by close family members and friends who knew the individual before the trauma happened. In the case when the person seeks advice from a psychologist, the specialist can tell that this person is having emotional problems due to his or her different behavior, as compared to their actions one before the trauma. The people who are traumatized could not believe what happened with them, as they feel stressed all the time. Psychological trauma can affect a person's ability to enjoy beautiful things in life or appreciate daily activities to a great deal, including those related to food, money, or outdoor activities. Emotionally, psychological trauma prevents the person to fully enjoy the activities they used to do before because their emotions have been changed, and their attitudes towards doing these activities permanently differ.
A research article, written by Kathleen J. Moro, "The Effects of Psychological Trauma on Children and Adolescents" shows an example of how psychological trauma can produce diverse emotional effects. "Development of the capacity to regulate affect may be undermined or disrupted by trauma, and children exposed to acute or chronic trauma may show symptoms of mood swings, impulsivity, emotional irritability, anger and aggression, anxiety, depression and disassociation. Early trauma, particularly trauma at the hands of a caregiver, can markedly alter a child's push-ups and of self, trust in others and perception of the world. Children who experience severe early trauma often develop a foreshortened sense of the future. They come to expect that life will be dangerous, but they may not survive, and as a result, they give up hope and expectations for themselves that reach into the future” (Moroz).
This quote from this article explains that psychological trauma can have a big negative impact on emotion, especially in children and adolescents, who have to go through the trauma. They are affected and that relates to the change in their moods up to the entire change in their emotions because they are suddenly confused and unsure how to feel and act when things happen in the world around them. Also, psychological trauma can affect a person's emotional health because the person cannot press himself or herself to experience the emotions that they had before the trauma happened. This means that they often are not able to experience emotions of happiness and joy since instead they only feel emotions of depression and sadness when they think back to the trauma and the issues related to it.
Another important idea that appeared from "The Effects of Psychological Trauma on Children and Adolescents", relates to the fact that "Severe trauma in early childhood affects all domains of development, including cognitive, social, emotional, physical, psychological and moral development. The pervasive negative effects of early trauma result in significantly higher levels of behavioral and emotional problems among abused children than no abused children. In addition, children exposed to early trauma due to abuse or neglect lag behind in school readiness and school performance, they have diminished cognitive abilities, and many go on to develop substance abuse problems, health problems and serious mental health disorders. Serious emotional and behavioral difficulties include depression, anxiety, aggression, conduct disorder, sexualized behavior, eating disorders, summary and substance abuse. Early childhood trauma contributes to negative outcomes in adolescence, including dropping out of school, substance abuse, and early sexual activity, increasing the occurrence of sexually transmitted diseases, early pregnancies and premature parenting" (Moroz). The author makes a good point by stating that psychological trauma is strong if it started since childhood. For example, the trauma usually causes introversion, isolation and withdrawal from society. Moreover, while psychological trauma ‘grows up’ with a person, it becomes more dangerous to live with. For example, this can affect the person’s free will and choice between the good and bad, like preferring suicide, drugs, or fighting.
Psychological trauma also has negative effects on mental stability because a person's thinking abilities and their mind can be changed when an event, such as death, devoirs, or accident, happens in their life. That causes them to always think back to a hurtful situation. Normally, after psychological trauma happens, people experience permanent difficulties to think properly, and they perform poorly in school because their mind is always preoccupied with that hurtful event. In addition, they are unable to think properly about the tasks that they are supposed to do, including their homework or preparing for their exams.
For example, if a person loses his parents, and then he or she is forced to go to school after the dreadful event, they will not succeed in school and their extra-curricular performance will be affected as well. Also, if a person is abused at home and always yelled at and scorned by their parents, they will experience a deep psychological trauma. The persons are going to do poorly in school because they will be underestimated and they feel that they are not good enough. Moreover, their mental health will start to become more depressed because of the negative issues present in their minds. Also, it might come hard for them to focus on positive things.
Another article under discussion, is called "Impact of Childhood Abuse and Neglect of Substance Abuse and Psychological Distress in Adulthood" that makes a detailed explanation of the situation when a person's mental health is affected by psychological trauma, in the case of which the person will definitely perform poorly in school. "Differences in individual adjustment to childhood trauma, the spy a clear association between childhood abuse and adult consequences, called for examination of other mediating variables to better understand pathways by which childhood trauma may be linked to negative psychosocial outcomes. One mediating variable not adequately addressed is educational attainment staying in school can be thought of as an active coping strategy that puts young people in contact with other adults such as teachers, social workers, and administrators who can guide and advise, and it might serve as a benchmark for gauging the long term protest of trauma. Although no empirical studies have directly examined relationships among childhood trauma, education, and avoidant coping, numerous studies have linked trauma to poor school performance. Using a wide range of school outcomes including standardized test scores, grade point average, absences, dropping out, and grade repetitions" (Min et al.). This citation shows that a person's mental health is strongly affected by psychological trauma because the student is not able to do well in school since their brain is being traumatized by the events, and their mind not being able to focus on the everyday tasks, such as homework and other things that students are expected to do in school to be successful. The students who have experienced trauma face the problem associated with learning, and this should be a task of the teacher or school officials to discover how the trauma has influenced the student and what are the remedies to be taken to help the student recover. Although these persons are not psychologists, they can analyze the level of the trauma with students through academic achievement, absences, or the escape from school.
Finally, losing physical health or losing the control of our physical health is the third most negative effect of psychological trauma on a person's well-being. As soon as a person has experienced trauma, they are deprived of taking care of themselves properly and their body faces a lot of problems, as a result. One problem that most people face after psychological trauma is neglecting of their body by forgetting to eat the right kinds of food due to deep depression. This may result in the loss of weight as they do not get the vitamins and minerals to stay healthy. On the other hand, people who experience psychological trauma can also become excessively fat if they do not watch their diet and they predominantly use food as a way to escape from their problems. When their bodies start to gain weight, they think that food helps them get over the psychological trauma. Both of these diets result from serious psychological trauma affecting a person's physical health because the person is not focused on staying healthy due to their mind being distracted from all of the emotional and mental problems that the trauma had caused. People also do not work out and exercise a lot after psychological trauma because their depression does not let them be active and maintain a healthy lifestyle the proper way they should.
Another important article that focuses on the effects of psychological trauma is called "The Health Impact of Childhood Trauma: An Interdisciplinary Review, 1997 through 2003". In this article, the author focuses on how psychological trauma can affect a child's physical health because children can develop health problems from the stress caused by the trauma. The article reflects on the issue by stating that "Research has shown a strong relationship between childhood trauma and psychological difficulties later in life; more recent research has indicated that the long term effects are even greater for physical illness. These long-term effects have highlighted posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a positive mediator variable. The illnesses identified include, but are not limited to, eating disorders, substance abuse, phobias, multiple personality disorders, irritable bowel syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, and autoimmune disorders" (Mulvihill). This article shows that a person's physical health can be negatively affected due to psychological trauma because people forget to take care of themselves and their body is exposed to a lot of problems afterwards, especially when they have to fight all of the trauma and get over all of those problems in order to remain stable and healthy. The researchers found a close relationship between childhood's traumas and psychological odds. Moreover, more than one research discovered that a long term traumas are more difficult to overcome successfully for the person.
Suicide is another major health issue associated with psychological trauma because people who become so depressed from the trauma can in reality hurt themselves as a result. An important research article, called “Childhood Trauma and Risk for Past and Future Suicide Attempts among Women in Prison", investigates the following, "Several recent studies suggest that disproportionately high rates of childhood trauma, such as abuse and neglect, may contribute to suicidal behavior among women in prison" (Clements-Nolle et al.). The findings of the research shows that people can experience a lot more problems than eating disorders, etc. from psychological trauma because they may become inclined to start doing crimes as a result of their depression and afterwards they become so depressed that they want to end their own lives by either attempting suicide or committing suicide. When the person finds himself in a bad physical health, it is difficult to respond for treatment quickly and appropriately. As a result, since the people lose their physical goof health caused by psychological trauma, the treatment response becomes even more difficult.
In conclusion, psychological trauma is a problem that can have many negative and diverse results. Children and adolescents are the people most likely to be affected by psychological trauma because their brains are still growing and developing and the trauma is thus able to have the biggest effect on these vulnerable groups of people. An advice from the psychologist is the right way to solve the multifaceted issues, and the specialist approached needs to be extremely noticeable throughout the people’s entire lives. Research on trauma has been going on for countless decades now and researchers have come to discover that trauma can be worked out by professionals who study and specialize in talking to people to help them overcome their problems. These people are psychiatrists who study trauma and they have also come to realize that psychological trauma can have bad effects on emotional, mental, and also physical health.
Works Cited
Clements-Nolle, K. Wolden, M. Bargmann-Losche, J. “Childhood trauma and risk: Past and future suicide attempts among women in prison.” Women’s Health Issues, 19, (2009): 185-192. PDF.
Farkas, K. Min, M. Singer, L. “Impact of childhood abuse and neglect of substance abuse and psychological distress in adulthood.” Wiley Interscience, 20.5 (2007): 833–844. PDF.
Moroz, K. “The Effects of psychological trauma on children and adolescents.” (2005). Print.
Mulvihill, D. “The health impact of childhood trauma.” An Interdisciplinary Review, 1997 through 2003 (2005). Taylor and Francis Healthsciences. PDF.
