5.2: Neglect Goes Much Deeper
- Page ID
- 215457
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The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University states, "Extensive biological and developmental research shows significant neglect—the ongoing disruption or significant absence of caregiver responsiveness—can cause more lasting harm to a young child's development than overt physical abuse, including subsequent cognitive delays, impairments in executive functioning, and disruptions of the body's stress response. Significant deprivation is incredibly harmful in the earliest years of life. Effective interventions are likely to pay significant dividends in better long-term outcomes in learning, health, and parenting of the next generation." (https://developingchild.harvard.edu.)
An infant’s one super-power is to admire the adults who care for them, encouraging the care cycle to continue. What happens, though, when the adults DON’T care for the child… DON’T model and return that love and affection? The child begins to doubt its own self-worth. The child begins to feel all alone in the world, and starts to believe that the world can’t be trusted. (How Unloving Parents Generate Self-Hating Children).
Children who experience physical, cognitive or emotional neglect often face anxiety. As a result, their body produces stress hormones. If this happens a lot, these hormones become toxic for their developing brain, which then later can repress emotional and cognitive well-being for life.
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Case Study:
In 1966, the country of Romania wanted to increase its population to become a stronger country. Many families were unable to care for their numerous children, and about a half-million children were sent to state-run orphanages. These institutions lacked toys, nutritional food and other necessities to stimulate physical and cognitive development. There weren’t enough caring adults to care for the children and many resorted to authority-driven punishment to control the children’s behavior; social, emotional and cognitive development were negatively impacted.
These children were found to have lower IQ scores, delayed language development and a lack of creative thinking. Without enriching experiences in their first years of life, these children’s brains could not build the neurological connections needed for optional future learning. Many children suffered from stunted growth.
Excess stress hormones of adrenaline and cortisol caused the children to continuously live in a state of toxic stress. This, combined with neglect and a distorted understanding of love and human relationships, taught the children to trust nobody. Researchers found that these children grew up to suffer from depression, insomnia, social anxiety, and physically smaller brain mass. From this, researchers learned that nutrition, stimulation and caring human contact are all needed for a child to develop appropriately.
(Neglect & Trauma: The Lives of the Forgotten Children).
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"emotions" by eltpics is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.