Psychological trauma can scar health for years — Tampa Tribune reporter Mary Shedden focuses on Carolyn Hennecy, who sees herself as example of a study done at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston that
Secrets erupt on page after page from people who are pictured on Project Unbreakable, long-held secrets in the words on the posters they’re holding. Words that fathers and step-fathers and grandfathers and mothers and brothers and boyfriends and dates and acquaintances said while abusing or raping them. “Now…Tell me you love me,” says one poster. “It is not going to hurt if you just relax,” says another.
Therapy dog program helps prosecutors in court — This nice overview that Jeremy Bordon did for the Washington Post last month is seeing wide distribution. It focuses on how dogs are being used to help young victims in
Prince William County, VA, feel comfortable about relating the details of their trauma. Continue reading
Domestic Violence Shelter Opens Doors to Pets After Heroic Dog Protects Owner – Time.com reports that in addition to 25 more beds,
Did you know that child trauma (abuse and other serious childhood adversity):
…is a leading cause of early death in adulthood?
…is a main cause of our high health-care costs, special education needs, high rates of kids failing
An analysis of early coverage of the Penn State University child abuse tragedy showed that 155 news reports published in the nine days following the arrest of former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky provided a “broader perspective” than a previous analysis of child sex abuse coverage and more “precise language”. But the coverage fell short in addressing solutions for preventing child trauma.
Final grade: “C”.
Is Our Society Prejudiced Against Children? – In her blog that appears on Boston.com, pediatrician Claudia Gold reviews Childism:
Confronting Prejudice Against Children, which was published yesterday. The book was written by Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, who died last month. Here’s part of Gold’s compelling review for what looks like a compelling book:
Following the history of the field of Child Abuse and Neglect (CAN) studies, she (Young-Bruehl) finds that “from the
start [this field] took attention away from abusers and their motivations; and it implied that children could be helped without their abusers being helped.” Furthermore, she describes Child Protective Services (CPS) as a “rescue service — a child saving service — not a family service supporting child development generally and helping parents…” Rather than setting up a system of treatment, CPS became “an investigative service…a situation in which bad families suspected of making their children bad will be invaded and infiltrated.” Young- Breuhl has empathy for both parent and child, arguing that failure to support families is a manifestation of childism. Continue reading
