STRESS is so bad for the brain!
Especially the developing brain and yet the school system is constantly pressuring parents to put their children through outrageously high levels of stress and GET THEM INTO SCHOOL!
There seems to be a very strange attitude in our culture today, that education is everything and as a society we treat children (whom are far more at risk of harm from stress) worse than we do adults. Professionals often expect the poor child to be completely unable to cope or suicidal before they are offered any decent help, even expecting said suicidal child to be back in school a couple of days after they have been in A and E. Whereas adults can access support much more easily, we can see a GP, get anti-depressants (we will discuss these at a later date,) a decent sick note and a referral to longer term support, sometimes even in the same day.
Nobody expects an adult to sit, working from home when they are signed off work sick, but we do with our kids! Companies aren’t allowed to discriminate towards staff who have disabilities but schools often do, and rarely do we judge someone whom is off sick from work if they do something nice to make themselves feel better but heaven forbid that a child be allowed to even watch TV during school hours!
How hard do we have to fight to even get a child signed off from school? It is unreal…
Right now I have been signed off of work sick myself for more than 9 weeks just because my daughter is unwell and it’s making me feel stressed but can I get my poor kiddo signed off? No I can’t!!!
As a Psychology student, working within the mental health field, I am utterly appalled by the lack of understanding and education which has been provided to Educational Professionals and even to GP’s on the subject of Stress and how it affects the development of the brain. It is not our job as parents or caregivers to educate the professionals working with our kids but sometimes that is exactly what we have to do. So I am going to give you the tools to do exactly that.
The purpose of this article is to give you as a caregiver a quick overview of ‘stress and the brain’, of ‘the effects of severe and long term stress on the developing brain’ and of Anxiety, PTSD and Depression. It will provide you with direct and relevant information which you can easily copy and pasted into any letters, emails and applications, which you may need to write to professionals and to give you some hard hitting, scientific evidence to back up your concerns, as you advocate for your child.
The Short Version:
Severe or prolonged exposure to stressful events, will trigger a repeated “stress response” within a child’s body. During this ‘stress response’ certain chemicals are released into the body and brain, to aid the individual to either fight for survival or to run away.
When the individual is either unable to fight or run away, so cannot burn up these chemicals and if the individual’s ‘stress response’ is trigger repeatedly, these chemicals will cause damage to cells of the brain! Causing the brains function to change at a biological level.
This damage unfortunately and ironically happens within the areas of the brain relating to the management of the ‘stress response,’ causing it to function ‘abnormally’ creating what is known as Anxiety. It also causes damage in the areas of the brain responsible for the production of guess what… Serotonin! The happiness chemical, causing the symptoms of ‘Depression.’
In an adult this damage is often reversible after a period of time without exposure to stress. However in the developing brain of a child, this damage to cells within the brain can become permanent! It can even cause parts of the brain to never fully develop to the volume of a healthy brain, pre-dispositioning these children to be at a higher risk of developing Anxiety, PTSD and Depression throughout their whole lives.
There you have it, it is super important to protect your child’s brain from repeated and unnecessary stress!
There is also scientific evidence, that making ‘home’ a fun and relaxing place to be while your child is off school is really important! The production of serotonin (the happy chemical which is produced in the brain while your child is having fun) actually boosts ‘neurogenesis’ (regrowth) in the brain and supports the healing of cells in the parts of the brain damaged from all that stress!
Still writing the science part!!!!
Part 2 will be available asap…
Inspire Liberty 