https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/usermanuals/neglect/chapterthree.cfm
http://www.minddisorders.com/Kau-Nu/Neglect.html
http://www.acrf.org/Self-StudyCourses/neglectcourse/n2brain.htm
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/resource/can-faq7
http://www.healthcareasia.org/2012/emotionally-neglected-children-may-have-higher-stroke-risk-in-adulthood/
The Impact of Neglect
Raven H.~
How does neglect effect
children, neglect has a powerful impact on a child, it may not show when they
are very young unless it is a extreme case. However, the effects of neglect are
hurtful and can be long-lasting foe the children and can become sever as a
child grows older. According to Child Maltreatment 2010 they estimated 695,000
children were found to be victims of child maltreatment in the federal fiscal
year (FFY) 2010. More than one-half of states (29) reported a decreased number
of victims when it was compared to 2009. An estimated 78% from the 695,000 are
from child neglect, 2% were medically neglected and an
estimated 10 percent of victim (10.3) experienced "other" types of
maltreatment such as "abandonment," "threats of harm to the
child," and "congenital drug addiction."
Neglect can affect a child’s…
·
Health and physical development
·
Intellectual development
·
Emotional and psychological development
·
Social and behavioral development
Although there are four categories of neglect's
effects on an individual, they often are related. For example, if a child
experiences neglect that leads to a delayed development of the brain, this may
lead to cognitive delays or psychological problems, which may manifest as
social and behavioral problems.
·
The
impact of neglect can vary based on:
·
The
child's age;
·
The
presence and strength of protective factors;
·
The
frequency, duration, and severity of the neglect;
·
The
relationship between the child and caregiver.
Research shows that the first few years of children's lives are
crucial and sensitive periods for development. During these years, neural
synapses are formed at a very high rate. After the age of 3, synapses start to
be "pruned," and certain pathways that are not used may be discarded.
Studies supporting the idea of a sensitive developmental period show that
maltreated infants suffer from greater developmental disabilities than those
children who were maltreated later in childhood. One
example of this is the ability to form attachments with one's primary
caregiver. If this process is disrupted early in children's lives, they may
have difficulty forming healthy relationships throughout their lives. Although
learning can happen throughout life, it often is more difficult for children
who were deprived of certain types of early stimulation.
Health and Physical
Development
Studies show that neglected children can be at risk for many
physical problems, including failure to thrive, severe diaper rash and other
skin infections, recurrent and persistent minor infections, malnourishment, and
impaired brain development. Because neglect includes medical neglect, other
health problems can arise from the failure of the parents to obtain necessary
medical care for their children. If children do not receive the proper
immunizations, prescribed medications, necessary surgeries, or other
interventions, there can be serious consequences, such as impaired brain
development or poor physical health. For example, a child who does not receive
proper dental care might be all right in the short term, but suffer from tooth
decay and gum disease later in life. Children with diabetes may be fine without
treatment for a short while, but an extended delay in treatment could have
serious consequences and possibly result in death.
A new research suggests children who are emotionally neglected may have a higher risk of stroke in adulthood.
Emotional neglect is defined as failing to provide for a child’s needs emotionally.
“Studies have shown that children who were neglected emotionally in childhood are at an increased risk of a slew of psychiatric disorders, however, our study is one of few that look at an association between emotional neglect and stroke,” said study author Robert S. Wilson, PhD, with Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
For the study, 1,040 participants who were 55 years of age or older took a survey measuring physical and emotional abuse before the age of 18. Questions focused on whether the participant felt loved by their caregiver, were made to feel afraid or intimidated and whether they were punished with a belt or other object.
Questions about divorce and financial need were also included.
Over a period of three and a half years, 257 people in the study died, of which 192 had a brain autopsy to look for signs of stroke. Forty of the participants had evidence of a stroke based on their medical history or an examination. A total of 89 people had signs of a stroke based on the autopsy results.
The study found that the risk of stroke was nearly three times higher in those who reported a moderately high level of childhood emotional neglect than those who reported a moderately low level. The results stayed the same after considering factors such as diabetes, physical activity, smoking, anxiety and heart problems.
“The results add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that traumatic childhood experiences and physical illness in adulthood may be linked,” said Kevin Barrett, MD, MSc, with the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., and a member of the American Academy of Neurology, who wrote an editorial on the research.
Wilson noted that a limitation of the study is that neglect was reported from memory many years after occurrence, so participants may not have remembered events accurately.
The study has been published in the latest online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Impaired Brain Development
Child neglect has been associated with a failure of the brain to
form properly, which can lead to impaired physical, mental, and emotional
development. The brain of a child who has been maltreated may develop in such a
way that it is adaptive for the child's negative environment, but is
maladaptive for functional or positive environments. A maltreated child's brain
may adapt for day-to-day survival, but may not allow the child to develop fully
healthy cognitive and social skills. Children who are neglected early in life
may remain in a state of "hyper-arousal" in which they are constantly
anticipating threats, or they may experience dissociation with a decreased ability
to benefit from social, emotional, and cognitive experiences. To be able to
learn, a child's brain needs to be in a state of "attentive calm,"
which is rare for maltreated children. If a child is unable to learn new
information, this may cause some areas of the brain to remain inactive,
possibly resulting in delayed or stunted brain growth. It also can impair
functioning later in life and may lead to the child being anxious, acting
overly aggressive, or being withdrawn.
How does Neglect Impact the Brain?
Pregnancy and
the first three years of life are the most active periods of brain development
in our lives. The following paragraphs are taken from the work of Dr. Bruce
Perry, a pioneer in the work of brain development in children and the impact of
maltreatment and trauma.
Huge portions of the human brain are devoted to social
functions and communication including establishing and maintaining eye contact,
reading faces, judgments and more. When a baby is born, his brain houses over
one hundred billion neurons that will chart paths and make connections based on
the social experiences they encounter. By the age of two and a half,
approximately 85 percent of the baby's neurological growth is complete, meaning
the foundation of their brain's capacity is in place. By age three, the child's
brain is 90 percent of its completed adult size.
In
a remarkable cycle of stimulus and response, the budding brain builds itself
using chemical signals generated by vision, smell, touch, hearing and taste to
activate and organize the neural cells that make up its tissue and determine
the brain's capacity to process, retain and respond to information.
Think
of it in terms of nutrition. If a baby is not fed consistent, predictable
messages of love and communication, then those areas of the brain shut down and
the child's capacity to function later in life is compromised.
-
Dr. Bruce Perry
How Does Neglect and Trauma Impact the Brain?
Dr. Bruce Perry has
researched how the brain develops in response to trauma. To understand his
results, let's review how a healthy brain develops.
Think of the brain as a upside
down pyramid. At the bottom and developing first is the BRAINSTEM which monitors basic responses such as
breathing and heartbeat. The next to develop is the MIDBRAIN which focuses on survival functions such
as safety and responses to threats. Farther up this upside down pyramid is the LIMBIC system which controls feelings and
emotions. The largest and the part of the brain last to develop are the CORTICAL functions which include our frontal
lobes and parts of the brain that control executive functions such as
reasoning, planning, anticipating, and predicting. The executive functions
develop most rapidly during adolescences and early adulthood. Below is what a
healthy, well-balanced brain should look like from bottom to top.
How Does Neglect and Trauma Impact the Brain?
Dr. Bruce Perry has
researched how the brain develops in response to trauma. To understand his
results, let's review how a healthy brain develops.
Think of the brain as a upside
down pyramid. At the bottom and developing first is the BRAINSTEM which monitors basic responses such as
breathing and heartbeat. The next to develop is the MIDBRAIN which focuses on survival functions such
as safety and responses to threats. Farther up this upside down pyramid is the LIMBIC system which controls feelings and
emotions. The largest and the part of the brain last to develop are the CORTICAL functions which include our frontal lobes
and parts of the brain that control executive functions such as reasoning,
planning, anticipating, and predicting. The executive functions develop most
rapidly during adolescences and early adulthood. Below is what a healthy,
well-balanced brain should look like from bottom to top.
Normal development results in a
healthy brain that is proportioned about 2 to 1. That means the combined Cortical and Limbic systems should be
about twice as big as the combined Midbrain
and Brainstem
systems. This proportion of brain development allows the Limbic and Cortical functions
(higher reasoning skills) to modulate and control and balance the Brainstem and Midbrain functions
(reactive and reflexive functions). When we try to teach children think before you act, we are
asking them to use one part of their brain to help them assess and control what
another part of the brain wants to do out of instinct.
What Dr. Perry found in his
research is that when young children experience severe trauma, the Brainstem/Midbrain
portion of the brain seems to overdevelop,
meaning children will have overdeveloped safety and stress responses and act
more impulsively, even though the Thinking/Feeling part of the brain (the Cortical/Limbic systems)
may be normally sized.
When children experienced
neglect, they often did not develop the Thinking/Feeling parts of the brain
resulting in an underdevelopment of the higher reasoning parts of the brain.
The worst combination of maltreatment was when children experienced both neglect and trauma. That
resulted in overdevelopment
of the Brainstem/Midbrain
functions ( resulting in anxiety, impulsivity, poor affect regulation, motor
hyperactivity) and underdevelopment
of Limbic/Cortical functions
(which affected empathy and problem solving skills). The result looks like
this.
Neglect during infancy,
including nutritional deficits during pregnancy, can impact a child’s
development of brain capacity and size. When neglect is combined with trauma, a
child’s brain develops in a survival style to help him stay safe. This may
result in a child being initially “wired” for survival—being impulsive,
anxious, acting from instinct instead of reason, and not able to understand or
identify his feelings easily.
The physical problems associated with neglect may start even before
an infant is born, such as when the mother has had little or no prenatal care
or smoked during pregnancy. These children may be born prematurely and have
complications at birth.
Neglected children also can have severe physical
injuries, possibly due to the inattention of their parents, such as central
nervous system and craniofacial injuries, fractures, and severe burns. They
also may be dirty and unhygienic, leading to even more health problems, such as
lice or infections. Children also may be exposed to toxins that could cause
anemia, cancer, heart disease, poor immune functioning, and asthma.
For
example, exposure to indoor and outdoor air pollutants, such as ozone,
particulate matter, and sulphur dioxide, can cause the development of asthma or
increase the frequency or severity of asthma attacks. Additionally, children
may have health problems due to a lack of medical attention for injury or
illness, including chronic health problems. Neglected children may suffer from
dehydration or diarrhea that can lead to more severe problems if unattended.
A medical condition
associated with child neglect is "failure to thrive," which can be
defined as "children whose growth deviates significantly from the norms
for their age and gender." This condition typically occurs in infants and
toddlers under the age of 2 years. Failure to thrive can be manifested as
significant growth delays, as well as:
·
Poor
muscle tone;
·
Unhappy
or minimal facial expressions;
·
Decreased
vocalizations;
·
General
unresponsiveness.
Failure to thrive can be
caused by organic or nonorganic factors, but some doctors may not make such a
sharp distinction because physical and behavioral causes often appear together.
With organic failure to thrive, the child's delayed growth can be attributed to
a physical cause, usually a condition that inhibits the child's ability to take
in, digest, or process food. When failure to thrive is a result of the parent's
neglectful behavior, it is considered nonorganic.
Treatment for failure to
thrive depends on the cause of the delayed growth and development, as well as
the child's age, overall health, and medical history. For example, delayed
growth due to nutritional factors can be addressed by educating the parents on
an appropriate and well-balanced diet for the child. Additionally, parental
attitudes and behavior may contribute to a child's problems and need to be
examined. In many cases, the child may need to be hospitalized initially to
focus on implementation of a comprehensive medical, behavioral, and
psychosocial treatment plan. Even with treatment, failure to thrive may have
significant long-term consequences for children, such as growth retardation,
diminished cognitive ability, mental retardation, socio-emotional deficits, and
poor impulse control.
Neglect in itself occurs when a parent or other caretaker chooses
not to take care for, provide for, or adequately supervise and monitor the
activities of their child. Taking care of a child includes the physical,
emotional, and educational well-being of the child. Neglect can also happen
when the parent or caretaker does not seek adequate medical or dental care for
the child. Another definition of neglect is when the parental figure does not
provide sufficient food, clothing, or shelter.
The guardian of
the child is expected to provide for the emotional needs of the child, neglect
can occur when the parents abandon the child, or simply have no time to spend
or take care of the child thus neglecting the child and having him/her take
care of themselves. If the child is left without supervision, it is considered
neglect.
The consequences of neglect often
negatively affect the child’s development. For example, poor nutrition has
negative consequences on the child’s physical and mental development. If not
properly taken care of and if the proper nutrients are not available to the
child the development of the child will not be on the normal pattern. That can
include stunned growth, chronic
medical problems, inadequate bone and muscle growth, and a lack of brain
development will negatively affect the brain functioning and information
processing. Processing problems may often make it difficult for children to
understand directions, may negatively impact the child's ability to understand
social relationships, or may make completion of some academic tasks impossible
without assistance from others. A lack of or no medical care may result in
long-term health problems or impairments such as hearing loss from untreated
ear infections. Long-term mental health effects of neglect are inconsistent.
Effects of neglect can range from chronic depression to difficulty with
relationships; however, not all adults neglected as children will suffer from
these results. Some individuals are more resilient than others and are able to
move beyond the emotional neglect they may have experienced. Characteristics of
resilient individuals include an optimistic or hopeful outlook on life, and
feeling challenged rather than defeated by problems.
Experience
This may not be as long or as detailed as the rest of this but most if not all of this is true(above not this, this is real). If it was not for my grandparents I would more than likly be dead from neglect because of my mother. When I was a baby I would be given old milk that had been out for hours and get sick, she would not change my dipers, and I would be left on the floor crying.
The one's that would help me would be my grandparents, I had gotten no love from my mother, when I was older but not in school, in order to save money for herself she would take us to a place that made me sick from the smell, almost all the time I would be throwing up and not eat while she did. She would not take me to the docters when I was sick(which was a lot), not untill my grandparents yelled at her for hours would she take me, same with the dentist,(I have a small problem with my teeth because of it)
It is hard for me to interact with other people, I hold up walls and be rude to new people because I always think they want to hurt me too. I am sometimes overly paranoid and jumpy too. I dont understand things that others know without having to be told what it feels like, I just dont understand. I just know hurt, and pain by heart, I have to learn the others by hand but I would not know what it is when I feel it. I dont know what it means to like like someone or what it means to love someone. Hell I dont even know how I am to react to some of the things that my friends say or do, I wait untill someone reacts so that I know what to do or how to act. I am better at it now but it is still hard for me to do things and understand them.
Neglect, it is not something that should be taken lightly, it can kill, be it a life or a life style.
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