Child-Witnessed Domestic Violence and its Adverse Effects on Brain Development- A Call for Societal Self-Examination and Awareness
Neurobiological systems can be highly susceptible to damaging effects of childhood trauma, such as childhood abuse or witnessing violence in the family. According to Cross et al. (2017), exposure to trauma or stress in early life enhances the risk for psychiatric morbidity throughout one’s lifespan, including depression and posttraumatic stress disorder, and this may result from the cascading neurobiological changes over the development course, which affect emotion and neurocognitive regulation abilities and eventually interferes with adaptive stress reactions to future stressful events. Some other changes might include reduced hippocampus size (which is in charge of memory and learning); reduced cerebellum size (has an impact on coordination and motor skills); over-activity of the amygdala (responsible for emotions’ processing), and damage to the limbic system hence predisposing the child to aggression, PTSD, chronic unhappiness and memory problems.
One of the treatment approaches suggested for families with domestic violence is Integrated Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and Psychodynamic Psychotherapy. The major components of this intervention include skills-based training, which focuses on teaching more nonviolent and functional ways of dealing with anger and conflict; restructuring maladaptive cognitions that initially resulted in negative emotions like anger and eventually domestic violence; family-systems interventions that focus on several family dynamics as well as communication patterns that support violence; a corrective emotional or relational experience that addresses issues linked to the attachment to the family of origin and present interpersonal relationship and trauma-related intervention models that target post-trauma symptoms resulting from childhood maltreatment or witnessing domestic violence (Lawson et al., 2012). With such an approach, social wellness can be enhanced through one’s ability to relate with others and control their emotions when angry or agitated. Psychological wellness can be addressed through an assessment of the underlying causes of violent behaviors and ways of dealing with trauma. Dealing with these two issues enhances physical wellness since stress and trauma will be lessened
References
Cross, D., Fani, N., Powers, A., & Bradley, B. (2017). Neurobiological development in the context of childhood trauma. Clinical psychology: science and practice, 24(2), 111-124.
Lawson, D. M., Kellam, M., Quinn, J., & Malnar, S. G. (2012). Integrated cognitive–behavioral and psychodynamic psychotherapy for intimate partner violent men. Psychotherapy, 49(2), 190-201.
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Question 
Domestic Violence
The mind-body connection is evident in the trauma experienced by children who either witness domestic violence or abuse themselves as part of the violence in the family. Discuss the neurobiological changes caused by this type of childhood trauma; including both physical and psychological effects. How do the integrated treatment approaches suggested for these families address physical, psychological, and social wellness?
Domestic Violence