Neuroscience has revealed in recent years that trauma resulting from adverse childhood events can actually change the brain — for the worse — of a developing child. And their thought processes and behaviors can become impaired as a result. They may be less able to control their emotions than youth who have not been traumatized, and they may experience reinjury and disturbing flashbacks.
With about 17 million young people with a mental health disorder of some kind, according to the Child Mind Institute — and with this greater awareness about the lifelong effects of trauma — anxiety grows among youth workers who wonder how best to get help for their charges.
A growing number of experts, including psychologists, social workers and physicians, have found a new tool in their kits for treating young people: mindfulness.
“There’s been an explosion of interest and studies,” said Dr. Jill Emanuele, director of training for the Child Mind Institute in New York City and a clinical psychologist. Therapists are becoming trained in using mindfulness, or paying attention to what is happening in one’s own environment with care and attention, to treat their young patients.
[For more of this story, written by Lynne Anderson, go to http://youthtoday.org/2015/11/...oose-their-behavior/]
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