3. Toxic Stress Derails Healthy Development
Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University
Sep 29, 2011
Learning how to cope with adversity is an important part of healthy development. While moderate, short-lived stress responses in the body can promote growth, toxic stress is the strong, unrelieved activation of the body’s stress management system in the absence of protective adult support. Without caring adults to buffer children, the unrelenting stress caused by extreme poverty, neglect, abuse, or severe maternal depression can weaken the architecture of the developing brain, with long-term consequences for learning, behavior, and both physical and mental health.
This video is part three of a three-part series titled “Three Core Concepts in Early Development” from the Center and the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. The series depicts how advances in neuroscience, molecular biology, and genomics now give us a much better understanding of how early experiences are built into our bodies and brains, for better or for worse. Healthy development in the early years provides the building blocks for educational achievement, economic productivity, responsible citizenship, lifelong health, strong communities, and successful parenting of the next generation.
Also from the “Three Core Concepts in Early Development” Series
the play-dead reaction that we often go into in the face of overwhelming stress.
There’s another one called tend and befriend, which is not as well researched as fight or flight, but deals with our propensity to use our social supports in times of stress.
The “Playing Dead” reaction
the parasympathetic nervous system is trying to make us invisible.
We will just disappear, so our body is totally passive in that situation
a 2007 study in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine found that 24 percent of ICU nurses and 14 percent of general nurses tested positive for symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Nursing has long been considered one of the most stressful professions, according to a review of research by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2012. Nurses and researchers say it comes down to organizational problems in hospitals worldwide. That includes cuts in staffing …
Caregiver stress: Tips for taking care of yourself
Nurses Say Stress Interferes With Caring For Their Patients