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TRAUMA OCCURS when individuals are exposed to distressing events that are potentially life threatening and that often overwhelm their ability to cope.
These events may be witnessed and experienced directly, but an individual can also experience trauma by simply being told about a disturbing event. Traumatic experiences include a wide range of adverse events and experiences that an individual may be exposed to over a lifetime.
Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) may be defined as 10 potentially preventable traumatic events or circumstances experienced during childhood before the age of 18. The term emerged out of research done by the Centers for Disease Control and the health provider Kaiser Permanente in the United States several years ago.
According to Professor Wendel Abel, during his keynote presentation at the GraceKennedy Foundation annual lecture titled ‘Breaking The Cycle of Childhood Trauma’, the main focus has been on the ACEs because of a large body of literature that has been produced on these original ACEs.
The original ACEs include 10 experiences grouped into three main categories:
• Childhood neglect, which may be physical neglect or emotional neglect;
• Child abuse, which includes physical, sexual, and emotional abuse;
• Problems within the household, referred to as household dysfunction, which includes witnessing domestic violence, having a close friend or family member who used alcohol and other drugs, having a close family member with a mental-health problem, having a close family member who has been incarcerated, and parental separation or divorce.
“Adverse childhood experiences are traumatic for children as they create profound distress. When the experiences are repeated and prolonged, these adverse childhood experiences often lead to mental-health issues, substance misuse, and physical problems as children move through the developmental stages and into adulthood,” Professor Abel said.
Research, he said, has shown that not all children who experience ACEs develop problems in life. However, he said there are several factors that determine the likelihood of exposure to adverse childhood experiences and the development of problems later in life.
“Risk factors are those that may increase the likelihood of exposure to ACEs and long-term outcomes associated with them. Some of these risk factors are themselves adverse childhood experiences,” Professor Abel said.
Protective factors, he said, are those that may decrease the likelihood of exposure to ACEs and can be linked to the opportunities that are geared at enhancing the mental and emotional well-being of children and youth.
“An understanding of risk and protective factors is critical to preventing ACEs, and a large body of work has emerged around developing strategies to enhance protective factors, mitigate risk factors, and promote resilience and coping. These risk and protective factors may be classified as being at the individual level, at the family, community, or wider societal level,” Professor Abel said.
Research demonstrates that typically, eight out of every 10 children in Jamaica experience some form of childhood adversity, which, later in life, may manifest itself in myriad ways, including substance abuse, depression, and other mental-health disorders.
Concise definitions of Adverse Childhood Experiences, which are the root causes of trauma, include examples and concepts that many can relate to: childhood neglect, child abuse, domestic violence, and household dysfunction.
Risk factors, he explained, are those that increase the likelihood of exposure to ACEs: family-related, community, school, societal, and cultural. The reality of these conditions becomes even more daunting when one realises the systemic nature of risk factors: poverty, poor housing, and lack of quality education.
The most insidious of these he mentionedd are historical trauma: past experiences – slavery, colonialism, racism – which many have inherited across generations.
The statistics are staggering: surveys (UNICEF 2023) indicate that 75 per cent of Jamaican youth, ages 13 to 24, experienced violence of one kind or another; one in four females (25 per cent), ages 13 to 24, experienced sexual violence.
Alarming, too, is Professor Abel’s claim that many who experience physical violence do not recognise it as physical abuse. His hypothesis begs the question whether we have become desensitised to conditions of violence in Jamaica.
Access to mental health care is critical: 50 per cent of youth who reported an experience of violence (UNICEF, 2023) were incapable of accessing services. He advocates for more resources, programmes, and interventions to save our children to break the vicious cycle of childhood trauma.
Professor Wendel Abel is a prominent scholar in the field of psychiatry. He is professor of Mental Health Policy in the Department of Community Health and Psychiatry in the Faculty of Medical Sciences and a consultant psychiatrist at The University Hospital of the West Indies, Mona.
The GraceKennedy Foundation held its annual lecture on ‘Breaking the Cycle of Childhood Trauma,’ by Professor Wendel Abel to address the pervasive and intense issue of childhood trauma in Jamaica.
“This is not an issue confined to any specific area. It affects individuals across all strata of society and often remains hidden and unresolved, passing from generation to generation if the cycle is not broken. Professor Abel inspires us with hope that with the right mindset and allocation of resources, we can treat this malady,” said Fred W. Kennedy, chairman of the GraceKennedy Foundation.
Since 1989, the foundation has invited a person of distinction to lecture on a subject of political, economic, or social concern to Jamaica and the Caribbean. It is the aim of the foundation that the lecture should initiate public debate and commentary at all levels of society.
English (US) ·