Bhagya Lakshmi

Childhood Abuse And The Importance of Early Intervention “But how dare you try to take what you didn't help me to get You selfish bitch; I hope you fucking burn in hell for this shit Remember when Ronnie died and you said you wished it was me? Well guess what, I am dead - dead to you as can be!”- Eminem These are the controversial words from famous American rapper and artist Eminem’s song “Cleaning out my closet”. It is a very sensitive song about how he, Marshal Mathers, as a child was abandoned by his father and ill-treated by his mother who was a drug addict and who was a victim of the mental condition – the Munchhausen's Syndrome. These are lines that created waves in the music industry, but also showed another side of Eminem’s early life and his sad plight as a child. The song throws light on one of the most pressing problems of today; childhood abuse. As per the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence, nearly one in four children have suffered from some kind of childhood abuse, including physical, emotional and sexual at some point in their lives and one in seven children have experienced the same in the last year. These numbers are again clear indicators of how the issue is growing at an uncontrollable pace and how it needs to be addressed right away. The effects of childhood abuse A rough childhood, filled with abuse and neglect can affect the child’s life in many ways. The picture below shows the scanned images of the brains of two three-year old children. While both these brains belong to two children in the same age group, one of them seems to be significantly smaller and much less developed than the other. The brain on the right seems to be lacking some of the most fundamental areas and features present in the brain on the left. This difference is the shocking evidence of the effects of childhood abuse. The brain on the right belongs to a healthy three-year old who was brought up with all the love, care and attention by his/her mother while the one on the left belongs to a child who was neglected and abused by his/her mother. Such a child is highly likely to end up being unemployed or being overtly dependant on his/her peers. There are chances for serious health and mental issues as well. All of these stem from the child’s inherent inability to socialize, empathize and connect with others and as a result of completely isolation. According to Professor Allan Schore of UCLA, “the growth of a brain’s cells is the consequence of the infant’s interaction with the main caregiver (usually the mother)”. Proff. Schore also pointed out to The Telegraph UK, that a baby’s brain “literally requires positive interaction between mother and infant and that the development of cerebral circuits depends on it. If the baby is not treated well in the first two years of life, the genes for various aspects of brain function including intelligence, cannot operate and sometimes may not even come in to existence.” Some major effects of childhood abuse are: - Smoking, drug abuse and alcoholism Hindered cognitive ability Lack of social and personal skills - Physical issues like blindness and cerebral palsy due to severe mental trauma experienced for a pro-longed period of time A high risk for health issues like heart and liver diseases, obesity, cancer and high blood pressure A high risk for mental health conditions like anxiety and depression These are just a few effects from a broad perspective. A child who has been abused for a major part of their life can be scarred to a level that can even be hard to comprehend. The remedy While childhood abuse is something that is quite private in a family, and considering how the victims are innocent children, the matter is slightly difficult to deal with. It is easy to get caught in the vicious cycle that hurts generations. However, there is one way to break the cycle which requires consistency and dedication. It is called “early intervention” and it involves intervening in the lives of mothers and showing them how to treat their babies in a way that would lead their brains to develop fully and wholly. Early intervention is quite a popular policy which has been tried in many parts of the U.S for more than years. As part of the programme, mothers who have been classified as “at risk” of neglecting their children are given regular visits at least once in every week by a qualified nurse who instructs them carefully on how to take care of their new born child. According to reports that show the effectiveness of the programme in the city of Elmira in New York State, where it has been in practice for the longest time, children whose mothers received such occasional tutorial visits did much better than those whose mothers were not part of the programme. They had much fewer arrests by about 50%, about 80% fewer convictions and a significantly lower rate of drug abuse. According to Graham Allen, the Labour MP for Nottingham North, who has been a fervent advocate of introducing early intervention programmes in to the UK since at least 2008, “There is no doubt that early intervention can make a tremendous contribution to improving our society. Not the least benefit is the financial one. The amount it saves tax payers, by reducing benefits, by cutting care home places for kids who would otherwise have to be taken from their parents, by reducing prison places, and so on, is staggering.” Just like Mr. Allen, there are many more MPs and doctors that highly recommend and support early intervention programmes for the greater good of the society and the world at large. There is also a remarkable cross party consensus that early intervention is a vitally important policy which needs to be supported nationally. Andrea Leadsom, the conservative MP for South Northamptonshire says “we need the central Government to get behind early intervention so that it happens on a big enough scale everywhere” One of the biggest hindrances though, against national adoption of the policy is simply the fact that the benefits will not be visible in the near future. It will take at least 15 years for the children to grow in to teenagers who do not commit the crimes that they would have done, had their mothers not been helped by an early intervention programme. This also implies that the benefits of the programme will not accrue to the politicians in power now, who initiated it, but only to their successors. Let’s hope such political consequences do not stop the reach and effect of such a successful and hopeful remedy for childhood abuse and possible future criminals.