While Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a personal struggle between the person affected by trauma and how their body responds, the affects do not stop at the trauma victim.\u00a0 By virtue of being children, growing up in a household that has at least one parent suffering from PTSD has the ability to affect how they function later in life as adults.\u00a0 In most situations, there is at least one parent who is in the household to play a barrier between the parent struggling with PTSD and the child, but that may not always be the case in situations such as divorce and single parents.\u00a0 Growing up with PTSD in their household, children may be expected to not have grumpy moods, bad days, disrespectful tones, or bad attitudes.\u00a0 Depending on when the PTSD started, the child may have been born into a household where PTSD was already located.<\/p>\n
In the film, Trauma and Dissociation in Children I: Behavioral Impacts<\/em>, the viewer is met with the number one public health issue, trauma and abuse in children.\u00a0 Multiple experts regarding the issue of traumatized children relate how children\u2019s bodies are affected from the trauma and the struggle within their bodies.\u00a0 More times than not, children who experience traumatic stress or events are exposed to it on numerous levels.\u00a0 The sum of the impact of stress will determine the long-term effects that it has on the child\u2019s memory and their development.\u00a0 There is a noticeable difference in the size of a traumatized child\u2019s brain.\u00a0 How the brain functions and the structures of the brain are visibly smaller.\u00a0 (Trauma, 2007)<\/p>\n A child who is a victim of abuse and trauma will develop on the premise that they need to survive.\u00a0 Long term affects could be that they struggle to keep from bouncing off the walls, unable to retain information, withdrawal, avoidance, escape, freeze, or have no emotional expression.\u00a0 The coping styles that a child will develop will mirror what actually took place during the trauma itself.\u00a0 (Trauma, 2007)\u00a0 The brain development is not complete until the early 30s.\u00a0 A child who experiences trauma early in life may have issues with the development of the frontal lobe responsible for the executive functions, specifically emotional regulation, flexibility, and inhibitory control.\u00a0 (Rousseau, 2018, Module 3)\u00a0 The trauma becomes ingrained in the emotional brain that is the heart of the body\u2019s central nervous system.\u00a0 The responses have a huge impact on any decision made in life.\u00a0 (Van Der Kolk, 2014, page 57)\u00a0 It is in this location where trauma stress is stored and will impact sleep, breathing, chemical balance, and basic functions.\u00a0 (Rousseau, 2018, Module 3)<\/p>\n Parents who dissociate because of PTSD can leave a child neglected or ignored.\u00a0 The parent suffering from PTSD may be self-absorbed and not providing the child in their household with the proper emotional support, which could lead to further psychological harm.\u00a0 A child may believe that they are the cause of the parent\u2019s behavior, become depressed, copy the parent\u2019s aggressive and violent behavior, bully their siblings as an expression of frustration, feel unwanted or unloved, become hostile towards the parents, and grow up feeling worthless, leading to a low self-esteem.\u00a0 (Hozier, 2014)<\/p>\n There are particular symptoms that a parent with PTSD suffers from that can be particularly damaging to a child.\u00a0 Due to their nature, children are noisy.\u00a0 Excessive noise can be a trigger for some PTSD sufferers who are sensitive to noise.\u00a0 Also, fluctuating moods can leave a child feeling inconsistency in their environment, leading to feelings of confusion.\u00a0 A child could also become affected with the parent\u2019s negative view on life, which could lead to cynicism.\u00a0 (Hozier, 2014)\u00a0 When children are exposed to the behavior of a parent, they are going to mimic their parent\u2019s behavior and actions.\u00a0 A child may not realize that what their parent is doing is not normal.\u00a0 Particularly so because a child may not even grasp what PTSD is or know that their parent is suffering.\u00a0 The PTSD trauma may have been caused prior to the child\u2019s birth.<\/p>\n In the cases of abuse, triggers can point a child into a dissociative state.\u00a0 The job of a parent or caregiver is to put the child at ease and safely bring the child back to reality.\u00a0 The documentary explained for warning signs for child protective service workers to look for regarding abused children.\u00a0 For example, being overly protective of their parent.\u00a0 When a child is immediately defensive regarding their parents, it may be because they fear the unknown of being removed from their parents\u2019 custody.\u00a0 The fact that they know what life is like with that parent, while it may not be great, it could be worse somewhere else.\u00a0 Essentially, the child would not want anyone to jeopardize them being removed from the only stable thing they have in their life, which is their parent.\u00a0 A child is born loving their parent and will essentially not known any better if the abusive relationship is all they know.\u00a0 (Trauma, 2007)<\/p>\n Children growing up with a parent who suffers from PTSD may be traumatized because children learn their development from their parents through imitation.\u00a0 When the parent suffering from PTSD is unable to deal with stressors or has unhealthy reactions, the child may develop adverse reactions to stimulus, which in turn develops problems with social and interpersonal skills.\u00a0 The continued exposure of a child to dysfunctional behavior may lead the child to consider that behavior \u201cnormal.\u201d\u00a0 (Hosier, 2014)<\/p>\n A child surrounded by PTSD may respond in one of three ways.\u00a0 A child may \u201cover identify,\u201d which means the child will act and feel just like their parent in order to connect with their parent, a child may become the \u201crescuer,\u201d taking on the role of the adult, or the child may become \u201cemotionally uninvolved\u201d because they get little or no emotional help, causing problems later in life.\u00a0 Feeling overburdened from what their parent is experiencing could lead to increased anxiety levels.\u00a0 (Price, 2016)\u00a0 In any of these situations, children are not responding at their age level.\u00a0 A parent who suffers from PTSD may expect more from their child than they would have if they were not suffering.\u00a0 For example, keeping noise levels down or understanding sudden mood changes or outbursts.\u00a0 All things that are somewhat easier for adults to handle, are a huge burden for a child to conquer.<\/p>\n Parents living in a household with a child can provide help to the child understanding the symptoms of PTSD.\u00a0 Preventative interventions are also helpful to the entire family.\u00a0 A first step is to explain to the child the reason that the parent has PTSD, without providing graphic details.\u00a0 The child needs to know that they are not in any way responsible.\u00a0 (Price, 2016)\u00a0 While not all reasons for PTSD are appropriate for children to know, the child has a right to know what happened to their parents.\u00a0 Explaining the situation in terms that a child will be able to understand is important to solidify that the child is not the cause.<\/p>\n There are other options to assist the parents help their child cope with living in a PTSD household.\u00a0 Treatment can be focused on the person suffering from PTSD, family therapy, and individual therapy.\u00a0 The therapy that a child is placed in can be based on their age \u2013 play therapy or talk therapy.\u00a0 Each family will need to determine what type of treatment option is the right fit for their situation.\u00a0 (Price, 2016)\u00a0 Therapy can provide a meaningful way for a child to speak with a neutral third party to express what bothers them.\u00a0 It provides an outlet to the child and a non-judgmental arena to state their feelings and receive feedback.<\/p>\n There is not a human being on Earth who is perfect.\u00a0 PTSD does not just affect the person living with the symptoms, it affects the entire family.\u00a0 How that person functions as a parent can be undermined by PTSD.\u00a0 Part of being a child is having the ability to bounce back from traumatic experiences and still live what is considered to be a normal, fulfilling life.\u00a0 However, when trauma is repeated over and over again to children, particularly those of younger ages, this will alter their behavior for the remaining course of their life.\u00a0 Understanding the signs and symptoms of PTSD can allow children in the household to be able to cope.\u00a0 Providing a nurturing environment for the child to grow up will give them the tools that they need to become functioning adults.\u00a0 The parents in the situation will make or break how the child deals with growing up surrounded by PTSD.\u00a0 The actions of the parent and how they help their child understand and cope with their surroundings will be a deciding factor in how that child develops and whether there is any lasting impact.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n References:<\/p>\n (2007). Trauma & Dissociation in Children I: Behavioral Impacts [Video file]. Cavalcade<\/p>\n Productions. Retrieved July 17, 2018, from Kanopy.<\/p>\n Hozier, David. (November 26, 2014)\u00a0 \u201cEffects of Parents with PTSD on Children.\u201d\u00a0 Childhood <\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Trauma Recovery.<\/em> Retrieved from: https:\/\/childhoodtraumarecovery.com\/2014\/11\/26\/effects-parents-ptsd-children\/<\/a><\/p>\n Price, Jennifer L, PhD.\u00a0 (February 23, 2016) \u201cWhen a Child\u2019s Parent has PTSD\u201d\u00a0 PTSD:<\/p>\n