Trauma Can Happen At Any Age
When you think of extreme stress and trauma you may be inclined to think of it in terms of adults’ experiences but there are many circumstances in which trauma can be experienced by children and adolescents.
Sometimes, horrifically, it’s because of some form of neglect or abuse in childhood, such as growing up with parents who were substance abusers, abusers, or those who had a mental illness. Other times it can be related to experiences in the teenage years such as bullying or difficult sibling relationships, to mention a few reasons. Or it can be due to other egregious situations a young person may find themselves in.
But whatever the reason, and whatever the age, extreme stress and trauma can take its toll on the person’s mental health and physical health, and not just during the time of stress or trauma or in the immediate aftermath of it.
The Long-Term Implications Of Past Stress & Trauma
As a person ages, the effects of negative health behaviours [1], such as smoking, drinking, other drugs, overeating and lack of exercise, as well as the corrosive effects of the body’s prolonged response to chronic stress (stress that continues for a long period), can have all sorts of ramifications for the person’s future mental and physical health.
For example, there is an established association between the cumulative effect of the ‘wear and tear’ on the body caused by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that is linked with subsequent physical illnesses such as chronic musculoskeletal pain, obesity, hypertension and hyperlipidaemia [2] and cardiovascular disease [2, 3].
And as an example of delayed repercussions on a person’s mental health, a 30-year study in which men who were rated as having excellent mental health at age 20 but who’d also experienced distant or destructive sibling relationships during childhood, were found to be significantly more likely to develop major depression by age 50 than those with better sibling relationships [4].
So taking steps to prevent the onset of such prolonged physiological wear and tear, and negative health behaviours, on the subsequent mental and physical health of your child can be extremely beneficial to your son or daughter, both now and also in the long-run.
And as parents, there is one area that you can personally, directly provide a great deal of support.
The Benefits Of Verbal Emotional Disclosures
Researchers decided to test three things with regards to adolescents’ experiences of trauma, their repercussions, and what helps their wellbeing [5]. Specifically:
- the prevalence of adverse or traumatic events in the lives of adolescents before they’ve reached 18 years of age;
- whether they develop psychopathological symptoms as a result of any such events and, if so, to what extent;
- and if talking about traumatic experiences to others reduces the psychological impact of the trauma.
Using a sample of 422 participants, 226 boys and 192 girls, with an average age of 14.8 years, each volunteering adolescent was asked to discuss in an interview whether they had experienced any stressing, painful and/or traumatic situations, including details on whether they’d spoken to someone about it; if so, whom; and for how long.
They were also (a) assessed for the presence of post-traumatic stress symptoms as well as being administered an additional assessment for (b) the impact of the event in terms of intrusive thoughts about the event and avoidance behaviours engaged in, and (c) given another assessment for anxiety and depression.
So what did they find? Let’s take a look.
Key Findings
Three out of four adolescents in the study (77% to be exact) had experienced a traumatic situation.
Looking at the aforementioned areas assessed, those who had experienced a traumatic situation, scored significantly higher in measures of post-traumatic stress disorder, intrusive thoughts, avoidance behaviours, anxiety and depression, compared to those without trauma.
Verbally disclosing emotional experiences to others, decreased symptoms, and in particular, when the adolescents verbally discussed their experiences with others on several occasions and in an extensive way, they experienced greater therapeutic benefits. The effects were most notable on the reduction of adolescents’ depression symptoms.
Helping Your Adolescent’s Post-Trauma Journey
First and foremost, let me preface this by echoing what the researchers highlight, that the use of verbal emotional disclosures should be used to complement any professional help you may seek for your child, rather than replace proper therapeutic help altogether.
However, as a parent, you are likely the first point of contact for feelings of safety and security.
Use the safe environment you provide, to your child’s advantage, to help buffer them from any short- mid- and long-term damage that any traumatic event could have on their mental and physical health and overall wellbeing, including their self-esteem and self-image during this delicate time of growth and brain development.
1. Listen well
Listen attentively. Plus, make it clear to your child that you are listening attentively by using sounds such as ‘Hmm’ and words such as ‘Okay…’ and ‘I understand’.
2. Reflect and be empathic
Use reflective, empathic talk. Stop, think and then respond, rather than having knee-jerk reactions to (A) something they tell you that they have done that horrifies you, (like taking drugs, for example) or to (B) what has happened to them which will likely be upsetting.
Using reflective, empathic talk rather than knee-jerk reactions to ‘A’ will help them to continue to open up, as opposed to shut down their verbal emotional disclosures, so that you can provide them with the research-backed benefits from the research study discussed above.
And by using reflective, empathic talk rather than knee-jerk reactions to ‘B’, you’re not risking exacerbating the psychological and physiological damage the traumatic event could unleash.
3. Think and talk solutions
Use solution-focused talk. Nothing extreme if you don’t know how to handle the situation but at least ask simple questions that will help your child and help you when discussing your child’s needs with a professional coach/therapist. For example, ‘How are you feeling?’; ‘What would make you feel better/calmer/happier?’; ‘What will make you feel happier right now, even if just for a little while?’; ‘What can I do to help you (feel better)?’; ‘Would you like me to talk to…?’
And offer simple science-backed solutions [6], too, for example, things that will help with emotion-regulation such as exercising and immersing themselves in nature, and doing something to relax before bedtime to help them get a good night’s sleep as sleep is incredibly important for a person’s mental health and the processing of distressing events to quell ongoing negative reactions the following day.
You can also suggest things to distract them from ruminating which is linked to both anxiety and depression symptoms such as immersing themselves in a good book they enjoy or watching a feel-good TV show or movie, or socialising with loved ones such as siblings or friends they have positive relationships with as doing so increases positive emotions [7].
Do What’s Required To Help Your Adolescent
Remember that, as per the aforementioned research, encouraging your adolescent child to engage in repeat and extensive verbal emotional disclosures after a traumatic event can help reduce mental ill-health symptoms, particularly depression symptoms, so be their safe space, listen well, reflect and be empathic, and think and talk in terms of solutions, and get them the professional help they need with someone who knows what they are doing.
Plus, have a sense of urgency as the less time they spend enduring chronic stress, the less time their body’s homeostasis will be off balance, the less time the stress response system will be activated and, thus, the less damage to their developing brain and their future mental and physical health [8].
Doing so will help them both now, and in the long-term, buffering them from the negative repercussions of any trauma they have experienced, as well as preventing or limiting any mental and physical health problems in the long-term, including perhaps decades from now.
References
1. Barboza Solís, C., Kelly-Irving, M., Fantin, R., Darnaudéry, M., Torrisani, J., Lang, T., & Delpierre, C. (2015). Adverse childhood experiences and physiological wear-and-tear in midlife: Findings from the 1958 British birth cohort. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112(7), E738–E746. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1417325112
2. McFarlane A. C. (2010). The long-term costs of traumatic stress: intertwined physical and psychological consequences. World Psychiatry: Official Journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), 9(1), 3–10. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2051-5545.2010.tb00254.x
3. Sumner, J. A., Cleveland, S., Chen, T., & Gradus, J. L. (2023). Psychological and biological mechanisms linking trauma with cardiovascular disease risk. Translational Psychiatry, 13, 25. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-023-02330-8
4. Waldinger, R. J., Vaillant, G. E., & Orav, E. J. (2007). Childhood Sibling Relationships as a Predictor of Major Depression in Adulthood: A 30-Year Prospective Study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 164(6), 949–954. https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.2007.164.6.949
5. Pérez, S., Peñate, W., Bethencourt, J. M., & Fumero, A. (2017). Verbal Emotional Disclosure of Traumatic Experiences in Adolescents: The Role of Social Risk Factors. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 372. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00372
6. Owen, S. (2018). Anxiety Free: How to trust yourself and feel calm. UK: Orion Publishing
7. Quoidbach, J., Gross, J. J. and Mikolajczak, M. (2015). Positive Interventions: An Emotion Regulation Perspective. Psychological Bulletin, 141(3): 655–93.
8. Nelson, C. A., Scott, R. D., Bhutta, Z. A., Harris, N. B., Danese, A., & Samara, M. (2020). Adversity in childhood is linked to mental and physical health throughout life. BMJ (Clinical Research Edition), 371, m3048. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m3048