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Trauma, Development and Spirituality Assignment
As children grow into the toddlerhood stage of development, they begin to assert their
independence and the child’s personality becomes more apparent. During healthy development,
children reach developmental milestones physically, emotionally, and socially. When a child
reaches the preschool stage of development, new challenges arise as children began to develop
relationships with other children, build their resilience and self-control. What happens when
healthy development is disrupted by negative events during the toddlerhood and preschool
development stage? Research has shown that early childhood experiences play a crucial role in a
child’s development. When a child is subjected to adverse experiences, it can cause harm to their
mental health and well-being which leads these experiences to cause trauma (Wong et al., 2020).
Trauma can occur due to stressful life events that the child has no control over such as
broken homes, death of a loved one, poverty, natural disasters, neglect, and emotional, physical,
and sexual abuse Unfortunately, child maltreatment has the biggest impact on a child’s mental
health and well-being, usually accruing in the home where the child should feel safe and loved
(Wong et al., 2020). Even though child maltreatment can happen at any time throughout
childhood and adolescence, it most often starts during the toddlerhood stage of development as
toddlers begin to assert their independence (Wong et al., 2020). Children who are subjected to
abuse can develop a great number of behavioral and emotional problems. These struggles can
include the child developing depression, anxiety, poor self-image, abuse of substances, eating
disorders, and experience repeat cycle of abuse (Wong et al., 2020). One example of the effects
of trauma during the toddler stage is the toddler may experience an unusually high level of
distress when they are separated from their parents or primary caregiver. Some other examples of
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symptoms of trauma in children ages 1-3 years of age is screaming or excessive crying, poor
verbal skills and may have a poor appetite (Peterson, 2018).
When examining children in the preschool stage of development, it is not uncommon for
children to display the negative effects of trauma exposer in their behavior through conflicts with
peers, personality regression to earlier stages of development, or being withdrawn. Signs of
trauma can be seen physically, with a child’s self-hygiene digressing, causing harm to
themselves, and fluctuations in their weight. Emotional forms of trauma symptoms may be
displayed by the child in the form of extreme anger or frustration (Wong et a., 2020). If exposure
to trauma occurs during the toddler and preschool stage of development, the child may have
struggles forming meaningful relationships and attachments. For example. A child who has
experienced abuse and has had unstable relationships with their caregivers, have been shown to
struggle with trusting others, regulating their emotions and may view the world as unsafe or bad.
They can have difficulty developing healthy attachments in the future and may react
inappropriately to situations (Wright et al., 2023).
Children who manage to defy the odds despite experiencing traumatic events are seen as
having resilience or resistant to stress, although not all children are resilient (Wong et al., 2020).
Resilience can help a child overcome adversity despite experiencing traumatic events. Children
who are resilient can self sooth and regulate their emotions. With consistency, structure, and a
loving warm relationship with their caregivers, teachers and other nurturing adults, a child can
build their confidence and recover from setbacks they have experienced. Research on resilience
in children shows that an important protective factor is the reliable presence of a positive, caring,
and protective parent or caregiver, who can help the child from aversities (Peterson, 2018).
Research shows that resilience is also built through religion and spiritualty. For children who
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have experienced trauma, religious comfort can improve mental health if continuously active in
faith throughout the lifespan by providing and strengthening hope and ways to cope. Religion
and spirituality may prove largely helpful in dealing with uncontrollable stressful life events and
is possibly becoming more immune to the effects of adverse experiences in childhood (Upenieks,
2021).
In conclusion, childhood adversity can disrupt healthy development and can have a
devastating impact on the well-being and mental health of children especially during early
childhood. Effects of trauma become most apparent during toddlerhood and preschool age. It is
important for caregivers, teachers, and mental health professionals to watch for signs of trauma
in children so that interventions can be implemented early on to foster the resilience of children
who have experienced adverse events. Developing coping skills and fostering resilience will
help children recover from these adversities as well as allow them to grow up to be high
functioning adults. More research should be done to determine the role of spirituality and
religion in mental health and how it can support resilience and modify the harmful effect of
childhood maltreatment later on in adulthood mental health (Upenieks, 2021).
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References
Peterson, S. (2018, May 25).<Early childhood trauma. The National Child Traumatic Stress
Network. http://www.nctsn.org/content/how-early-childhood-trauma-unique<
Upenieks, L. (2021). Resilience in the aftermath of childhood abuse? changes in religiosity and
adulthood psychological distress.<Journal of Religion and Health.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-020-01155-9<
Wong, D. W., Hall, K. R., & Hernandez, L. W. (2020).<Counseling Individuals Through the
Lifespan<(2nd ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.
(US).<https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/books/9781544343235
Wright, B., Fearon, P., Garside, M., Tsappis, E., Amoah, E., Glaser, D., Allgar, V., Minnis, H.,
Woolgar, M., Churchill, R., McMillan, D., Fonagy, P., O’Sullivan, A., & McHale, M.
(2023). Routinely used interventions to improve attachment in infants and young children:
A national survey and two systematic reviews.<Health Technology Assessment,<27(2), 1–
226. https://doi.org/10.3310/ivcn8847
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