Impact on Brain Development: Discuss how childhood trauma can affect brain development, particularly in regions associated with stress regulation, emotion processing, and cognitive functioning. Explain the concept of toxic stress and its long-term consequences. Psychiatric Disorders Linked to Childhood Trauma: Outline common psychiatric disorders associated with childhood trauma (e.g., PTSD, depression, anxiety disorders, dissociative disorders, personality disorders). Provide statistics or research findings to support the link between childhood trauma and these disorders.
Childhood Traumatic Experiences and Their Contribution to Psychiatric Disorders in Adulthood
Mental illness is a disorder that affects an individual’s thought process, behavior, and mood. Mental illness is also referred to as mental health and psychiatric disorders. Mental health disorders are increasingly becoming a global health concern. It is estimated that 50% of the United States (US) population has received a mental health diagnosis during their lifetime (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2021, as cited by Kuang and Wang, 2022). These disorders cause significant morbidity and mortality in many population groups. These illnesses form part of the ignored or poorly understood conditions due to lack of understanding, ignorance, and misinformation. The invisibility and differences in how communities perceive these illnesses have been blamed for this discourse.
As healthcare systems are tilting toward innovative ways to manage these illnesses, significant consideration has been given to the pathogenic principles underlying these illnesses. Understanding the factors in their development and how they manifest allows the establishment of healthcare resources that are valuable in managing mental health illnesses. Salokangas et al. (2020) attest that people with mental health problems generally report having traumatic experiences. This paper examines the pathogenetic features preceding mental health illnesses, emphasizing the nexus between traumatic childhood experiences and psychiatric disorders.
This paper aims to answer the research question, “Do childhood traumatic experiences contribute to psychiatric disorders in adulthood? Research findings regarding this question will provide education and awareness of some mental illnesses’ development. Notably, the hypothesis states that childhood experiences contribute to psychiatric disorders in adulthood. Traumatic events in early childhood, such as bullying and parental loss, contribute to psychiatric illnesses in later life. This research is relevant to mental health providers and individuals with mental health disorders.
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Literature Review
Traumatic experiences in childhood encompass events that cause stress in a child’s life. These include sexual and physical assault, exposure to any form of violence, the sudden death of a loved one, and exposure to natural disasters such as earthquakes. Regardless of the form of a traumatic event, these experiences profoundly affect an individual’s emotional, physical, psychosocial, and spiritual health. McKay et al. (2021) note that childhood traumatic events impact a child’s psychosocial and mental health in their later lives. Children with such experiences have difficulty managing, expressing, and identifying their emotions. Additionally, they tend to internalize or externalize their stress reactions and may thus experience anxiety, depression, and anger. These effects often interplay in their future illnesses and are often overlooked or unidentified during their management.
Several mental health illnesses have been associated with traumatic childhood events. Nelson et al. (2020) report that there is a substantial nexus between childhood experiences and mental health disorders. Psychiatric disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, acute stress disorder, reactive attachment disorders, adjustment disorders, and others are correlated with traumatic childhood events such as emotional abuse, bullying, parental loss, and general maltreatment. The overarching principle behind the development of these disorders is the loss of trust, connection, and self-worth that proceeds from these events. Children exposed to such events often internalize the feeling that they are not lovable and have low self-worth. They often resort to maladaptive behaviors such as substance abuse and may develop depression, anxiety, and anger issues in adolescence and adulthood. Findings have revealed that the incidence of mental health and other somatic illnesses such as sleep disturbance disorders, lower perception of self, and reduced emotional well-being are up to twice as high in individuals who were exposed to a form of a traumatic event in their childhood (Devi et al., 2019). This reveals the extent of involvement of these events in their suffering.
The ripple effects of early traumatic experiences have also been evident in somatic illnesses that ultimately affect individuals’ mental wellness. Tohi et al. (2022) report that children who experience trauma are at higher risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, cancers, and other chronic non-communicable diseases. While distinction exists