User:Kaleighbrennan/Early childhood trauma

original paragraph - Psychological Resilience

Psychological resilience in particular is referred to bouncing back after having been exposed to serious stressors. For example, during the Holocaust where majority of the population was killed, the child survivors were pronounced by definition, resilient. After being subject to traumatic experiences countless children can become resilient and even display more strength than before, known as invulnerability. Reason being, there are factors to consider when contemplating on how certain children become resilient when faced with adverse social conditions. These factors include innate childhood qualities, specific character traits, social support systems, capability to make the best of what they're given, and ultimately the will to survive. Research on children’s emotional experience and competence suggests that children who have emotionally charged experiences tend to have a heightened awareness of emotional cues; thus, allowing for more effective processing of information. However, the capacity to become resilient is dependent on a variety of factors, one of which includes gender. Evidence from a prior study suggests that girls compared to boys utilize support systems and other resilience factors more often than boys, helping them cope more efficiently on a daily basis. Despite this evidence, some studies have showed that adults who were believed to be resilient after facing trauma in their childhood, also reported high levels of anxiety and depression; those deemed resilient can fall apart at any time if a certain vulnerability is triggered. ------- original wiki article Early childhood trauma

Psychological Resilience

Psychological resilience often refers to an individual's ability to utilize past experiences with stressors to successfully navigate new life challenges, and it is portrayed as the power to bounce back. Children who endured certain trauma in early life may develop the capacity to anticipate potential conflict or trauma before it occurs, and can plan to react accordingly, minimizing their stress as much as possible. Some people are more apt to cope with stressful events than others. Not every child who has experienced early trauma will display psychological resilience, as each brain is wired differently; where some children may find future scenarios easier to navigate as a result, others may fall back on maladaptive coping mechanisms that make future stressors significantly more difficult. For example, someone who tended to dissociate during conflict as a child to protect themselves may find themselves relying on the same strategy during a mundane argument with their spouse ten years down the road -- this detachment will not work the same way, and it will not allow them to resolve the conflict at hand. This ingrained behavior is disruptive but can be amended by finding alternative ways to cope with tense situations.

If the early childhood trauma stems from a parent or guardian, or an individual the child has to encounter daily, the child may develop resilience through repeated exposure to mistreatment. This gives them a better picture of which strategies work, and which ones do not. This dynamic can complicate the lingering effects of the trauma; research shows that abused children need a secure, stable adult in their life to lean on for assistance. Children with healthy parent-child relationships can go to their guardian for advice on how to navigate or overcome a negative experience, but when the parent or guardian is the source, the child may feel stranded. On the other hand, if they have an adult figure that validates their emotions and provides comfort, they will have an easier time building a support network, contributing to the development of their psychological resilience.

Psychogenic Amnesia

In cases of severe childhood trauma, it is not uncommon for individuals to experience amnesia later on in life; for example, some victims of childhood sexual abuse do not remember the events in question until decades later. In psychogenic amnesia, also known as dissociative amnesia, the brain actively suppresses unpleasant memories in order to protect the mental wellbeing of the individual, and only later uncovers them when the individual is in a state of mind or environment that allows them to safely process such unpleasantries. Adults who experienced early childhood trauma may not realize the extent of their experiences until much later in life. Future recall muddles the individual's perception of his or her own credibility and makes it difficult to discern whether this sudden surfacing of a memory is real or not, causing them to delay seeking help or support.