The Effects Of Childhood Maltreatment On Children And...

According to the Administration for Children and Families (2013), there are one million verified cases of childhood maltreatment reported annually in the United States. This constitutes approximately 35% of the childhood population in the United States. Of these cases, 79.5% were the result of neglect, emotional abuse, and abandonment. Over 3% of these children attempted or completed suicide (Administration for Children and Families, 2013). Dr. Todd Herrenkohl and colleagues conducted a 30 year longitudinal study children in the child welfare system, Head Start programs, and daycare centers (Herrenkohl, Hong, Kilka, Russo, 2013). Throughout the study, Herrenkohl conducted the GAD general anxiety assessment, the Beck Depression†¦show more content†¦One’s experiences in early childhood create the foundation from which perceptions of the self and others are created (Marmarosh Tasca, 2013 and Snyder, Shapiro, Treleaven, 2012). These experiences are associated with the development of neural pathways in the brain that control responses to stress (Marmarosh Tasca, 2013), and impact attachments and relationships in adulthood (Snyder, Shapiro, Treleaven, 2012). The diagnosis of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has been used for nearly three decades (Kisiel, Fehrenback, Torgersen, 2014). It has been proposed that the various consequences of interpersonal traumas, particularly in young children, are not sufficiently explained by the diagnosis of PTSD (Kisiel et al., 2014). According to Carruth (2006), psychological trauma is the most frequently observed complication in those in recovery from alcohol and substance use disorders. Failing to diagnose and treat those individuals with substance use disorders who have also gone through some form of trauma early in life perpetuates the cycle of addiction. Attachment theory, first hypothesized by Bowlby over five decades ago, has seen resurgence in recent years (De Rick, Vanheule; Verhaeghe, 2009). Significant aspects of attachment theory have reinforced the idea that the relationship