Childhood Trauma Can Last Forever
Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris has an amazing TED Talk available right now that parents, caregivers, teachers and anyone who has children in their lives should watch. If you've experienced trauma in your life, you may want to watch it, too. The discussion is about how childhood trauma affects us our whole lives. Did you know that the risk of heart disease and lung cancer triple in cases of heavy trauma?
Trauma like abuse, neglect or being raised with parents with mental illness or substance abuse can affect people their entire lives. It can even lower our life expectancy by up to 20 years! Many kids who are being referred to doctors for ADHD have also been found to suffer from extreme trauma, which would of course cause similar symptoms and cause problems in listening and paying attention.
If you watch the talk, post your thoughts in the chat.
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia