Childhood Trauma Essay

In recent years, modern society emphasizes standard approaches in aiding underprivileged inner city kids, such as overcoming “the odds” and personal responsibility over structural change to a community’s legislature and government run programs. The American Psychological Association defines post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, as a debilitating anxiety disorder characterized by symptoms of avoidance, hypervigilance, and negative reexperiencing of the event. Recently unraveled statistics of PTSD symptoms in low-income inner-city communities remain remarkably comparable to veterans that served in the Vietnam, Afghanistan, or Iraq wars. However, unlike veterans, low-income communities lack the financial resources and societal support to orchestrate

An association subsists between trauma and an increased risk for PTSD and abusing substances, such as alcohol and drugs. Cross’s experimental study findings conclude existing “relationships among childhood trauma, current PTSD symptom frequency, and current problematic alcohol and substance use in low-income, African-American sample of adult men and women” (Cross). The findings model the impact of early trauma on risk for addiction, suggesting the root of potential community-threatening outbreaks behind violent neighborhoods and untreated PTSD. Nevertheless, a possible community-driven motive prevails for providing care to those diagnosed with PTSD; it could theoretically reduce city crime statistics. A diagnosis of PTSD is related to “higher chance of owning more handguns and ‘combat’ type knives, aiming guns at family members, and patrolling their property with loaded weapons” (Scutti). In order for society to prosper, treatment facilities need to be installed to aid individuals suffering from PTSD symptoms. In the long run, this will prevent them from migrating towards violence as the only answer. However, without endearing community support, this solution remains