Psychology Research on PTSD in Child Abuse Victims

PTSD In Child Abused Children
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PTSD In Child Abused Children
Introduction
PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) is a persistent condition caused by exposure to injury or psychological shock emanating from exposure to gory scenes or physical and mental abuse. People living with PTSD always have vivid recall of the event, and it affects their psychosocial life. According to the CITATION Cen182 \l 1033 (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018), There were 676,000 victims of child abuse and neglect reported to child protective services (CPS) in 2016; additionally, it is estimated that 1 in 4 children experience some form of child abuse or neglect in their lifetimes and 1 in 7 children have experienced abuse or neglect in the last year. These statistics highlight the deep-rooted problem in the United States that can potentially cause PTSD. Sadly, the statistics above are based on reported data, and thus the numbers are more than the afore-included numbers.
Impact on adolescent & Adult life
PTSD may manifest itself in adolescence and or adulthood. The diagnosis of PTSD can positively be discerned through his/her actions, decisions and behavior. An adolescent with PTSD is likely to have poor social skills and thus in adolescents who are at an important period of forming lasting relationships might be adversely affected CITATION Ken01 \l 1033 (Kendall-Tackett, 2001). The victim might be shy and unwilling to approach members of the opposite sex, especially if an individual of the opposite sex caused the traumatic event. They may appear introverted and lonely. They also have a very short list of friends who they ‘can trust,’ and the cautionary approach they take into almost all relationships with other people hinders the development of deep social bonds.
Academically, adolescents who have been exposed to traumatic events in their childhood are likely to have poor performance averagely CITATION Ken01 \l 1033 (Kendall-Tackett, 2001). The continuous re-visitation to the traumatic events in their early life affects their cognitive development and affect their ability to concentrate on their academic work. They are also likely to drop out because they find school boring and hard. The school is ‘hard and boring’ because of their poor academic performance stemming from lack of concentration in academics and boring because they cannot form strong social bonds with their peers CITATION Ken01 \l 1033 (Kendall-Tackett, 2001). Children with PTSD who were exposed to the traumatic event in adolescence show an erratic and sudden change in attitude, behavior, and interests. At first, it can be largely be classified under depression, but their health status cannot be accurately mapped to a depressed patient. The sudden and erratic behavior is likely to affect the adolescent’s social bonds, family relations, and formal bonds, i.e., they mostly have a frosty relationship with their teachers.
In teenage, adolescents can exhibit aggressive behavior which can be traced to be caused by PTSD. Aggressive behavior can be manifested through bullying other children, engaging in fights with peers, instigating violence with their peers CITATION Ken01 \l 1033 (Kendall-Tackett, 2001). Their games and sporting activities are aggressive, i.e., football. They often suffer from self-esteem issues, and thus the fragility of their self-esteem is often triggered and prompts them to react aggressively. For example, they can personalize a joke and feel it is an attack on them and they react aggressively, which affects their social relationship.
They are also at high risk of addiction. The combination of low self-esteem coupled with an affinity for deviance and poor emotional regulation predisposes the teens to drug and substance abuse. They usually take refuge in alcohol and other narcotics to numb the pain of PTSD and or escape their depressive moods. Since they often start the substance abuse gradually, their behavior and peer groups and interests change as they conform to the mannerisms of other drug abuser’s they appear careless in their appearance which together with other hallmark identifiers of drug abusers show that the adolescent is likely taking drugs. Once they start taking drugs, they are likely to become addicted and often interventions are too late, or the drugs have adverse short-term and long-term effect on the individual.
Some of these effects spill over into adulthood, and the PTSD may persist especially if it is not treated. The individual may continue forming poor social bonds and exhibiting poor emotional regulation. One of the main areas where children who were abused and have PTSD is manifested in through forming lasting marriages and raising closely-knit families. The individuals carry the scars of their childhood experiences into their adulthood, and they are often mistrusting and judgmental. In some cases, they find ways to ‘revenge’ which either continues the cyclic generation of abuses and PTSD and or leads to incarceration. Most rapists have confessed to having either sexually abused as children, and they perpetuate the very crime that ruined their lives unto others CITATION Ken01 \l 1033 (Kendall-Tackett, 2001). They are also likely to be addicted to various substances they may start taking them leisurely or as an escape from their PTSD. The individuals whose PTSD is not diagnosed and treated, and they turn to the deviant lifestyle they often pay higher prices because they are likely to land them in jail. Additionally, these issues also affect the individual’s work performance and workplace social interactions.
Family life is complicated and highly likely to fail by societal standards to victims of child abuse with PTSD when they attempt to start their own families in their adulthood. Children who were abused and have PTSD are more likely to file a divorce and or have several marriages in their lifetime. As they struggle with their PTSD, their spouses often do not understand how to navigate their moody attitudes and or inclination to violence, aggression, etc. Children who have PTSD caused by child abuse can be abusive in their relationships especially to their partners which not only affects their relationships but also increases their chances of promoting their legal partners to file suits against them for emotional and physical abuse. If the individual goes to have a family, it is likely to be an unhappy family which may cause either physical and emotional neglect of their children CITATION Ken01 \l 1033 (Kendall-Tackett, 2001). In extreme cases, they can become sexually abusive of their children. The cycle of abuse and likely PTSD in the future continues. For any individual who has PTSD in his/her, adulthood is likely that their parents also suffered some form of emotional and or physical abuse thus creating a chain of abuses/PTSD in successive generations.
Symptoms & diagnosis of PTSD
Positive diagnosis of PTSD is when an individual experiences symptoms for at least one month following a traumatic event through the symptoms may take months or years to manifest. According to CITATION Anx18 \l 1033 (Anxiety and Depression Association of America, 2018) the...