PDFs & Links Related to Trauma and Social Justice
1. “ADHD and Complex Trauma: A Descriptive Study of Hospitalized Children in an Urban Psychiatric Hospital” —This paper describes how ADHD symptoms can result from neurobiological changes due to trauma or poor caregiver attachment, and how trauma-informed therapy can therefore be more effective at reducing the symptoms of ADHD than medication alone. (Please click the article description to access the PDF)
2. “Shallow Affect, No Remorse: The Shadow of Trauma in the Inner City” - This paper describes how in inescapable and extremely dangerous environments, sometimes the only way to survive is to eliminate threats, even through violence, and to disconnect from the difficult emotions born from immense trauma, without a truly safe space in which to heal. Often the people who seem the least caring have been harmed the most, and need the most safety and empathy to heal. Everyone deserves and benefits from a safe and healthy home and community, and our social policies need to nourish and keep all individuals and communities safe. (Please click the article description to access the PDF)
3. Teicher, M. H., & Samson, J. A. (2016). Annual Research Review: Enduring neurobiological effects of childhood abuse and neglect. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57(3), 241–266. doi:10.1111/jcpp.12507 - “In this review, we will touch on eight key questions. First, does childhood abuse affect brain structure and function? Second, does the type of maltreatment matter or are they all stressors? Third, does age at the time of abuse matter? Fourth, what is the temporal association between exposure and brain changes? Fifth, are boys and girls affected in the same way? Sixth, do the observed structural and functional consequences make more sense as adaptive responses or as nonspecific damage? Seventh, are the neurobiological consequences of childhood maltreatment reversible? Finally, what is the relationship between childhood abuse, brain changes and psychiatric illness?” (Please click the article description to access the PDF)