Psychological Trauma and the Developing Brain: Neurologically Based Interventions for Troubled Children

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Summary: Psychological trauma and the developing brain
Review: Events early in life shape further human development and make the components of adult character. Early trauma of both physical and emotional kind have effects on the developing brain, which is the subject of this book with a review of current up to date knowledge in this field. Phyllis T Stien is a psychiatric nurse working as a mental health consultant for Head Start and Early Childhood Education programs and Joshua C Kendall is a freelance health care writer with experience in child health and human development.
This book has seven chapters: brain growth, birth to five, PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), complex PTSD in children, healing the brain, Billy's story and translating scientific advances into policy with several illustrative case-stories and an extensive bibliography.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was formally recognized in 1980 in DSM-III (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders), but as a disorder it is an old problem described by physicians dealing with soldiers having "shell shock" seen in the first World War. In the late 1970s researchers found that survivors of rape and battered women suffered the same symptoms, but only lately has it been accepted that abused and maltreated children also suffer from PTSD with symptoms of reexperiencing the traumatic event, persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the event and a persistent state of heightened arousal. It can either by a single overwhelming event or after repeated traumas (like abuse and maltreatment over time).
In this book you will find the current explanations about the effects of trauma on the developing brain, interventions and case stories to illustrate, but also information describing the lack of societal involvement in spite of the enormous costs of child maltreatment to society. This book is recommended to professionals working with children in general, but also professionals in the fields of pediatrics, child psychiatry and psychology.

Gideon Vardi, MD, MPH
Zusman Child Development Center, Division of Pediatrics, Soroka University Medical Center, Ben Gurion University, Beer-Sheva, Israel. E-mail: [e-mail]

Professor Joav Merrick, MD
Director, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and Medical director, Division for Mental Retardation, Box 1260, IL-91012 Jerusalem, Israel. E-mail: [e-mail]





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Summary: Abuse makes people stupid and wastes $billions.
Review: Every politician, every military commander, every parent, and every future beneficiary of Social Security should read this book. It describes the state of the art of the research on the effects of all kinds of trauma on children from birth, in a manner that is sophisticated enough for academia and accessible enough for almost everyone else.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and pennies invested in nurturing very young children who are at risk will yield pounds of economic security in the future. Abuse, particularly chronic, will compromise brain function as the young brain valiantly adapts to an unhealthy world, but the price is high - hyperactivity, spaciness, very low self-esteem, non-integration of thoughts with feelings, etc. Stress compromises anyone's ability to think clearly and evaluate consequences.

The younger the child, the easier it is to get him/her back on track.

But where's Wall Street? If we had a sane economic system, we would already be making these investments instead of wasting our money on more hi-tech toys or soda pop. We would be spending more on infant education than on post-graduate education.