Mentor/s
Dr. Brian Stiltner and Dr. Sandra Young
Participation Type
Poster
Abstract
I lived a great childhood, and I mean really great. I had a seemingly stable home life and the world was full of colors and endless possibilities. Then suddenly, on my twentieth birthday, I found myself locked in a psych ward not wanting to be alive. Imagine growing up in a world full of colors. Everything is bright and happy and you live in a house full of love, safety, and security. Then, once you hit early adulthood, the world goes gray.
Sometimes, you cannot always describe why you feel a certain way or why things are the way that they are. However, for the purpose of this essay, I am going to be researching Developmental Trauma in particular.
Developmental trauma stems from invisible childhood experiences which includes but is not limited to mental, emotional or physical abuse and manipulation (Global Teletherapy). Anyone can be impacted by developmental trauma even if they had a seemingly happy, healthy and loving childhood. As a child, they do not always realize that what you are experiencing is abuse and will impact you later on in life. I mean, how could you? For most people, it is all they have ever known. Developmental trauma is not often talked about and is something that is commonly swept under the rug. Why would Johnny, now hitting young adulthood, struggle with serious mental health issues when he had the “perfect” childhood? Was it actually “perfect”? In this paper, I will include research on what long lasting effects developmental trauma has on a person. I will also discuss research that involves early preventative measures that can be done in order to put an early stop to this abuse and protect our future young adults.
My research is partly motivated by experiences I have endured throughout my life, some of which I share in this essay. Although my experiences are unique to me, research shows that my experiences are widely shared health challenges that are fortunately, rectifiable with proper support and treatment. However, this cannot happen unless there is much more social awareness.
College and Major available
Farrington College of Education
Location
Digital Commons & West Campus West Building University Commons
Start Day/Time
4-26-2024 12:00 PM
End Day/Time
4-26-2024 2:00 PM
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Prize Categories
Most Scholarly Impact or Potential, Most Transformative for Social Justice, Best Writing
Breaking the Stigma and Raising Awareness: The Grisly Effects Developmental Trauma Has on Early Adulthood and How to Put a Stop to this Monstrosity
Digital Commons & West Campus West Building University Commons
I lived a great childhood, and I mean really great. I had a seemingly stable home life and the world was full of colors and endless possibilities. Then suddenly, on my twentieth birthday, I found myself locked in a psych ward not wanting to be alive. Imagine growing up in a world full of colors. Everything is bright and happy and you live in a house full of love, safety, and security. Then, once you hit early adulthood, the world goes gray.
Sometimes, you cannot always describe why you feel a certain way or why things are the way that they are. However, for the purpose of this essay, I am going to be researching Developmental Trauma in particular.
Developmental trauma stems from invisible childhood experiences which includes but is not limited to mental, emotional or physical abuse and manipulation (Global Teletherapy). Anyone can be impacted by developmental trauma even if they had a seemingly happy, healthy and loving childhood. As a child, they do not always realize that what you are experiencing is abuse and will impact you later on in life. I mean, how could you? For most people, it is all they have ever known. Developmental trauma is not often talked about and is something that is commonly swept under the rug. Why would Johnny, now hitting young adulthood, struggle with serious mental health issues when he had the “perfect” childhood? Was it actually “perfect”? In this paper, I will include research on what long lasting effects developmental trauma has on a person. I will also discuss research that involves early preventative measures that can be done in order to put an early stop to this abuse and protect our future young adults.
My research is partly motivated by experiences I have endured throughout my life, some of which I share in this essay. Although my experiences are unique to me, research shows that my experiences are widely shared health challenges that are fortunately, rectifiable with proper support and treatment. However, this cannot happen unless there is much more social awareness.
Students' Information
Grace Fleishman, Interdisciplinary Studies, Honors student, year of graduation is 2024.
Winner, Dean's Prize: College of Education 2024 Award