Brain scars of a molested child
Most parents as a father who called me the other day, continue languishing in fear of what their children will face every single day.
The most frequent question is “How safe are our children today?” According to World Health Organization, nearly 3 in 4 children - or 300 million children aged 2–4 years frequently undergo physical abuse and/or psychological violence at the hands of parents and caregivers.
Unfortunately, one in 5 women and 1 in 13 men
account for having been sexually abused as a child aged 0-17 years. What
exactly happens to the mind of an abused child?
Today, let us take a journey through the mind of an abused child to try and understand that unseen world. As we journey, we need to understand that it is not enough to address the atrocities by only establishing domestic laws to curb the evils. We need to hear and listen to what is happening in the minds of the victims of abuse among children.
There are high chances that we are not aware of the damage caused by the perpetrators to the victim hence our impatience in the recovery process of those affected by dreadful acts of wickedness.
I have met adults who were
abused as children and children receiving treatment in hospitals. This event
has extremely affected their lives, and it does not add any value when they
live in a society that castigates their behaviour instead of understanding their
uproar in the brain.
Damaged brain due to physical and
psychological abuse, reworks by depleting a child’s perception about life due
to betrayal and pain inflicted by an adult or a schoolmate. So, what exactly
happens to the human control tower namely the brain? Childhood maltreatment and
sexual abuse has been reported to have several harmful effects on how the brain
develops and matures.
According to neuropsychologists,
traumatic events affect the brain by decreasing the size of the corpus
callosum. The Corpus callosum has more than 200 million myelinated nerve fibers
that link the two brain hemispheres. This allows communication in the brain
between the right and left sides of the brain. Defects inside the corpus
callosum have been largely reported in maltreated children by mental health
practitioners.
Maltreated children tend to suffer in their learning processes because the traumatic experience decreases the size of the hippocampus. I have heard parents questioning their children as to why their grades are affected by soothing that happened a few years back. Some caregivers interrogate their children harshly trying to understand why it has taken so long to recover from their maltreatment experiences.
For a child who has been
abused, the hippocampus part of the brain that is important in learning and
memory gets affected immensely. This part of the brain influences a person's
memories as well as their ability to form new memories in life. When damaged,
this part of the brain predominantly affects the capability to recall
directions, whereabouts, and coordination. That is why we find victims
suffering from such unable to recall what exactly happened.
Sometime back I had a patient who had been in an abusive environment for some time. Unfortunately, in such spaces where stress levels are high, such trauma is reported to propel dysfunctions in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. This part of the brain like the expectation we have of rapid response by the fire brigade in the face of the destructive blaze participates in the stress response enabling us to handle stress effectively.
This patient had consistent chronic stress, which had
disrupted by disintegrating the very system in the body necessary for a healthy
stress response hence having victims who are overwhelmed by their situations.
The patient felt helpless and could not attend to any personal need they had
for some time.
Last year we encountered an abused child seeking help in a language that most of us will call misbehaviour. The way of communication was a reaction, shouting, fighting, and outbursts of anger which is simply acting out when words cease to express their inner traumatic chaos.
Abuse tends to make children have dampened emotional responses because of the cruelty experienced that affects their whole being. A child’s brain in such conditions end up having less volume in the prefrontal cortex, which affects behavior, responsive balance, and discernment. Such victims of mistreatment end up becoming more aggressive and irritable in their interactions with others.
In a society that pushes children to detach from
their emotions, the pain experienced makes these children struggle to take
initiative or have the will to participate in activities. Some end up
performing poorly on assigned responsibilities at home and school that require
persistent preparation
One time while visiting a patient in a hospital, I found this lady taking care of the son who had a fracture. Inquiring further what had happened, the son had been sodomized in the streets and since that time, the mother reported that he had become “careless”.
Luckily, the psychiatrist explained to the parent how abuse harms the functions of the brain as a result of emotional and physical woundedness. Patients and victims of abuse tend to have over-activity in the part of the brain called the amygdala. This can drive harm to the amygdala and as a result, impair a patient’s/victim’s capacity to make nontoxic decisions.
This can cause a child
to lose their natural dislike to risk and loss, hence making all the wrong and
risky decisions. It becomes difficult to process emotions and informed
reactions to impending traumatic or unsafe circumstances. Sometimes you will
find a victim who ends up becoming a target of abuse in another similar or
different experience due to such damage in the brain.
Abused children suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder are reported to have reduced volume of the cerebellum. Considerably reduced brain volume and reduced cerebellar left hemisphere can affect the motor skills and coordination of a child. We need to understand that emotional trauma and PTSD do cause long-term brain and physical damage to the victims.
There is more we can do to support children by
ensuring that we get past the symptoms. If our perception of children’s
behaviour is resistance and not crying for help, we will miss their needs and
desire to heal. Children are losing us as caregivers they desperately need in
trying times.
John Wills Njoroge is a Psychotherapist and Social-Diagnostician
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