The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn., David Waters column
By David Waters, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
This is the second time this year I've written about the impact of chronic stress and trauma on child brain development, which means I'll be writing about it again.
It's worth repeating as we collectively worry about the
In all likelihood, they weren't. That should be apparent, if you've seen the cellphone video of the teenagers gone wild.
Nearly all teenagers go a little wild at some point. Neuroscientists have been telling us for years that the adolescent brain is a work in progress and a lot of the progress has stalled.
The prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that controls impulses and considers consequences, doesn't mature until the early 20s, if we're lucky.
That explains why car insurance rates are so high for young men. It only partially explains why rates of serious injury or death among 15-19-year-olds are six times higher than among 10-14-year olds.
"We often stop at the images on the cellphone video and fail to see the core problem," said
"At the core of these violent incidences is the human brain, which is a biological organ that is affected by stress and trauma. Chronic stress and trauma in childhood, especially in the first 1,000 days of life, literally change the composition of the brain.
"The resulting 'toxic stress' facilitates mental, behavioral and physical diseases, including violence, addiction, and all forms of ill health that we are seeing in our community now."
If you've ever been a crime victim, or if someone you know has, you get it.
Think about how stressed you were when someone broke into your car or house.
Think about how traumatic it was to be robbed or assaulted, to be physically or emotionally attacked or abused, or even to witness it.
Imagine feeling that stress or trauma nearly every day and night as you grow up.
Imagine what it would do to your level of anxiety, your sense of security, your outlook on life, not to mention your brain chemistry.
Studies show that children born in poverty to undereducated parents are inordinately exposed to strong, frequent, prolonged and destructive trauma that overloads a young mind's defense systems and impairs its normal development.
Studies show their parents were inordinately exposed as well.
That's not to excuse violent teenage behavior. That's to help us understand it so we can take smarter steps to reduce and prevent it.
Here's the good news: We know how to prevent toxic stress from damaging young brains. It's not brain surgery. It's brain science.
It begins with attentive, instructive, nurturing, body- and brain-protective parenting from the point of conception.
"Parenting is just hard, even for those of us with resources and solid support systems," said Public Defender
That's why the
The centers, free and open to all, will be operated by a collaborative led by
The programs and resources to be offered are based on 40 years of research on the damaging long-term effects of adverse childhood experiences such as violence, abuse, neglect and other forms of "toxic stress".
"Our community must understand these problems cannot be fixed with curfews and more parking lot security," Nixon said. "We simply must embrace a long-term view of solving these disturbing issues."
(Full disclosure: My wife, a public schoolteacher who has mothered five former teenagers, is a member of the
(Fair warning: She's more likely to take the task force to task than I am.)
Brain science is heady work.
Parenting is hard work and heart work.
If we make it a community priority, it might even become irritatingly repetitive.
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