Health & Fitness
Do you think brain trauma is passed on to your children?
May is Mental Health Month and this was an enlightening workshop.
Do you think your brain trauma is passed on to your children? Wednesday night I attended a fantastic informational workshop offered through the Parent Support
Network (PSN) in Johnston, RI. This group facilitates parents whom are going
through difficult periods with children/schools, due to mental health or
disabilities. I found them while I was looking for a support group for parents
in Rhode Island with dyslexia, as there are none.
I was lucky to find PSN. They are funded in part by Grants and other entities. PSN is there for you if there is a need and they can go with you to a 504 or IEP meeting for FREE. Or, they can just guide you in difficult situations. The adage 'You Don't Know, what you Don't Know" is realized after you present your story, only to find out there are many resources to aid you in advocating for your child.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and early intervention is a must!
PSN’s workshop asked James E. Greer, M.D., Child Psychologist and in practice
for 25+ years to speak. He was a dynamic speaker engaging all 30+ attendees
with easy to understand information. I was eager to hear the difference of how
left brain vs. right brain reacted to the same trauma. He also talked about the
multi-generational ways trauma is transferred from one line to another.
The “Repairing Trajectory”, along with amazing facts to most like a child’s brain
is still growing until 25. He shared how actor, Christopher Reeves who recently
died and had succumbed to being wheelchair bound after a horse riding accident
and in his later years he actually experienced a breakthrough. Just before his
death, he was taking steps walking and it was a direct result of all the
research and mental work he had been practicing to repair his brain. Pretty
amazing!
Facts. The Amygdala controls the adrenaline and is what allows you to remember
how you felt about watching a moving and the Hippocampus allows you to remember what you saw like cab drivers in London whom are noted for having a large hippocampus brain development, because being a cabbie stimulates and broadens this part of the brain due to remembering places they map to. A parent or teacher that jumps at you triggers the Amygdala to what you think of that type
of personality or association with certain characteristics and the Hippocampus
allows us to remember which parents and teachers are not toxic that way.
Mental Health Behaviors are manifestations with cognitive and emotional
behaviors and have some many consequences that can be observed. Teachers and parents should educate themselves to some of these, as an example Bullying, a teacher telling your child how messy their writing is and the child’s
personality is altered by decreased abilities to focus, increasing argumentative, impulsive and many other signs. There is no way any parent or teacher can or should become an expert on all of this (otherwise they would be a doctor), however the basics could red flag some depression and deeper mental
functioning which should be reported and treated. I have included several
slides which I found interesting and thought it might add to some perspective.
Identity versus identity confusion can be debilitating to children and if we
don’t help them form a secure grounding or guide/help them when they have
behavioral problems like “I don’t care”.
My Ah-ha moment 1) your PSTD transfers to your child. So the level of your PSTD
trauma often predicts the level of PSTD in your child; 2) Brain tissue
regrows/regenerates (Birdbrain breakthrough Fernando Nottebohm 2002); and
3) Over 1 “million” children are victims of “Secondary Victimization” as a result
of the repeated parents exposure to Chronic PSTD. WOW!
My question asked: Special Education professionals/teachers are daily with our
children and I would like to know are they receiving some education on brain
trauma/mental illness signs? In order for our children to become more
successful it is said these children must live day-in/-out through experiences,
it is important for these teachers to educate themselves as they spend many hours influencing. Dr. Greer did say that rather than a child sitting in a
therapist’s office, children do better with those day-in/day-out experiences
and yes, they have started workshops that Special Education Teachers are going
to. But, its a small percentage of the teachers and Administrators, but we are
working in the right direction.
Do you feel that Mental Health is still a taboo subject talked about?
