Essay: The Impact of Loss, Trauma, and Grief on Child Development

This essay provides a comprehensive literature review on the effects of loss, trauma, and grief on child development. It explores various factors contributing to childhood trauma, including domestic violence, drug abuse, homelessness, and the death or separation of family members. The essay delves into the psychological impacts, such as the development of PTSD, emotional neglect, and behavioral disorders. It discusses how these experiences affect children's cognitive processes, adaptive abilities, and emotional well-being. The essay also examines the different ways children at various developmental stages grieve and express their emotions. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of trauma-informed practices, counseling, and goal-setting to support children affected by adverse experiences. The author emphasizes the need to create positive environments and provide effective interventions to help children build resilience and overcome the long-term effects of trauma and loss.

Running head: LOSS, TRAUMA AND GRIEF
LOSS, TRAUMA AND GRIEF
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Introduction:
The Childhood Trauma is one of the most important and pressing problems across the
educational institutions in both the developed and the developing countries. Children, having a
traumatic childhood or disturbing memories in the childhood find it difficult to adapt to the
developmental process and often it is observed that these children have an affected psychology.
Also, often the children are diagnosed with an early level of PTSD or Post Traumatic Disorder,
which essentially affects their developmental process, by affecting their cognition process and
their adaptive ability (Morgan, and Roberts. 2010). Therefore, in the following essay, a literature
review is been presented on the impact of loss, trauma, and grief upon the developmental process
of the children. In this notion the aspects of homelessness, domestic violence, drug abuse,
accidents all will be included in the discussion.
Body:
The childhood trauma and feeling of loss can essentially take place because of domestic
violence and drug abuse in the family, which can give rise to feelings of emotional neglect
among the children. According to the researchers, emotional negligence can create among the
children a complex feeling of denial and childhood trauma, which further creates among the
children Complex PTSD. Researchers have opined that the feeling of emotional negligence
create among the children a feeling of denial, stemming from emotional abuse and verbal abuse.
Along with this, many children gain an experience of the abandonment, which creates among
them the feeling of constant emptiness, and fear and shame (Lines. 2011). Such incidents create
among the children a feeling of denial which can turn into a quagmire of emotion affecting their
process of adulting. The researchers have opined that these children, are likely to get flashback

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of their childhood as they grow up. This can therefore generate among them a self- pity and a
feeling of denial among them towards all the worldly feeling. This, therefore contributes to a
core and potent form of PTSD, which is very difficult to receive from (Walker. 2013).
Domestic violence and drug abuse among the families members, also lead to
estrangement from the family and homelessness. Poverty is another reason which is inextricably
related to the factors of homelessness and all these leas to an affected childhood and affected
developmental process. There is a continuous increase of the percentage of homeless children in
Australia. Almost 47% of the children of the country are homeless, and according to the
researches this initiates or creates among the children a feeling of De- minimization (Australian
Childhood Association. 2010). This is a crucial aspect of confronting Denial. The de-
minimization is a process of the deconstructing the defense mechanism that the children develop
over the years, in light of the child hood trauma. The de- minimizing process of childhood
trauma, takes a toll on the psychological development of the children. They usually become very
self-dependent and egoistic, and there are behavioral disorders among the children. Disorders are
seen among the adaptive behaviors, and there is a lack of sense in the maintenance of the self-
efficacy. There is an increase in the symptomic reactions and minimal distress situations can
cause a great impact among the children.
Death of the parents or the siblings and the separation or the divorce of the parents are
also another reason leading to cause a distress situation among the children. The researchers are
of the opinion that the process of grieving and showing the pain if loss is different in different
stages of the children. For example, the preschoolers grieve in a different way, while the children
in the middle childhood and late childhood have different ways of showing their grief. Children
belonging to the early childhood stage do not have a cognition capability and therefore are more

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vulnerable. The children in their middle age, start developing the operational and the thinking
capabilities which then give ruse to strong and intense emotion building among the children
(Hardayati, and Mustikasari. 2019). They are less distracted form the resources of stress and they
usually express intense emotions, which often overwhelms their selves. However, on the other
hand, in the late childhood the children are seen to be more composed with their stress factors
and their intensity to show the grief vary at a great level, than children in the middle age. They
are still vulnerable, but they are capable of showing more strength, thus initiating the process of
resilience. However, there can be psychological impacts of these situations which can get
expressed situationally.
Disabled children are more likely to have a very low self- esteem, and they usually look
at their impairment as their weakness, which should be understood by them as their strength.
Often it is seen that there is a delay in the development process among the children, and the
disability ignites among them a very negative attitude towards themselves with a broken trust
and very low cognition capability among the same (Ogundele. 2018). Therefore, it is important,
to create among them and for them a positive goals attitude. Creating positive goals among the
children are very effective and helpful. Examples of positive goals among the children can be the
improving their scores or grades, or to gain a good position within the class, and in the eyes of
the teachers. Therefore the children with the affected childhood, must be acknowledged with
effective approaches of counselling (Hooyman, and Kramer. 2008). They should be provided
with a concrete goal behavior and their behavioral and adaptive processes should be improved
through proper care and strategic management of behavior.

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Conclusion:
The factors of feeling of grief and loss, gradually creates among the students traumatic
experience, which then gradually leads towards estrangement, depression and anxiety behaviors,
all affecting the processes of development. Homelessness, accidents of the family members, and
the separation of the parents are some of the eminent factors that lad towards childhood trauma.
Also, the familial abuse, and drug abuse among the family members, and the disability also
create among the children a sense of grief, which theme generates among them a traumatic
experience. These traumatic experiences affect the development of the children effectively and
therefore, impacts upon the adaptive processes of the children.

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References:
Australian Childhood Association, 2010. Making SPACE for learning: Trauma informed
Practice in Schools. Retrieved May, 2, p.2017.
Hardayati, Y.A. and Mustikasari, M., 2019. THE IMPLEMENTATION OF RELAXATION
AND DISTRACTION TECHNIQUES ON ADOLESCENTS EXPERIENCING ANXIETY IN
EARTHQUAKE PRONE AREAS. International Journal of Nursing and Health Services
(IJNHS), 2(3), pp.9-15.
Hooyman, N.R. and Kramer, B.J., 2008. Living through loss: Interventions across the life span.
Columbia University Press.
Lines, D., 2011. Brief counselling in schools: Working with young people from 11 to 18. Sage.
Morgan, J. and Roberts, J., 2010. Helping bereaved children and adolescents: Strategies and
implications for counselors. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 32(3), pp.206-217.
Ogundele, M.O., 2018. Behavioural and emotional disorders in childhood: A brief overview for
paediatricians. World journal of clinical pediatrics, 7(1), p.9.
Walker, P., 2013. Complex PTSD: From surviving to thriving: A guide and map for recovering
from childhood trauma. Createspace Independent Pub.

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