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The Neurodevelopmental Impact of Childhood Abuse

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Dec 23, 2003

This article is an extention of the last one, a result of a research paper I did on the subject. It is my hope that as we come to a greater understanding of how dissociation develops we will become more effective in coming alongside those who live with it.

"We humans are the most complex and puzzling of living creatures. We can create, nurture, protect, educate and enrich. Yet we also degrade, humiliate, enslave, hate, destroy, and kill. A man can tenderly hold his newborn and then moments later beat the baby's mother. Violence permeates our history. . . inter-familial violence is rare but intra-familial violence - violence to wives and children - is rampant" (Dr. Bruce Perry, M.D., 2001).

For some of us, it is no small thing to try to grasp the concept of the violence that takes place in our world, to make sense of classmates shooting one another in schools, of gang killings and terrorist attacks upon civilians, of genocide and senseless wars. But for others, violence is something experienced, up close and personal, on a daily basis. While it is a terrible thing to hear about the violence so many in our society endure, it is another thing altogether to live with that kind of threat day in and day out in one's own home. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects upon that those who must live in violent circumstances and how they often cope and survive, particularly the children.

We will ask questions, too. What constitutes violence? How does long term exposure to violence affect a child on a nuerodevelopmental level? In other words, how can perpetual fear alter the developing child's brain? What coping mechanisms must be employed in order to survive a persistently violent environment? How does one adapt to such surroundings? How does it impact one's later years, adolescence, and adulthood? What does a child come to believe about him or herself as a result of living in such conditions? And finally, what can be done for these individuals?

One child abuse survivor who grew up in an extremely violent environment had this to say about that experience:

"Violence was happening at home on an ongoing basis. I don't remember ever feeling safe, ever. Home was not safe, people were not safe, life was not safe. "I grew up learning that I could depend on absolutely nothing, no one, because dependable things were non-existent in my world, except for one thing: life hurt, and I hurt, beyond description, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it" (Just Before Dawn, Perez, 2003).

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The copyright of the article The Neurodevelopmental Impact of Childhood Abuse in Multiple Personality is owned by Pamela R. Perez. Permission to republish The Neurodevelopmental Impact of Childhood Abuse in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.