Introduction
Belle and her younger brother Jamie have recently been adopted from an orphanage notorious for its poor conditions and lack of support for the children in its care. Belle is five years old, and her brother Jamie is twelve months old. Friends have warned their adoptive parents that children from such institutions are irreversibly impacted by their experiences of privation/deprivation and that the status of the children’s biological parents is an important unknown factor. However, Belle and Jamie’s adoptive parents are committed to providing love, structure, and support to nurture their development. They are hopeful that there will be no lasting effects of their time in the orphanage. Belle has shown evidence of emotional instability and a delay in development regarding reading and writing, though little is known about Jamie’s development.
One of the topics to be covered in this case study report is the impact of potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood on Belle and her brother Jamie’s brains. The deprivation faced by the children in the orphanage and the prolonged adverse experiences of these children are experienced without family support. As a result, chronic stress develops, as too much cortisol disrupts the development of brain circuitry. Another topic to be covered in this report is how the brain may change post-adoption (Hesterman, 2021). That is all about brain plasticity, which includes the ability of the human to modify its connections and re-wire itself. Understanding such changes is essential since they help one handle adopted children effectively.
Impacts of Trauma and Stress on the Developing Brain During Early Life
Since Belle and her brother were initially thrust into a stress-inducing orphanage characterized by deprivation during early life, their physiologic fight-or-flight response systems shift to the maximum. Consequently, they might lose their capability to react appropriately and effectively to stressors in their adult life (Hesterman, 2021). This may occur owing to the gene methylation process whereby minute chemical makers, including methyl groups, conform to the genes responsible for controlling fight or flight response and bar them from performing their functions well. As the role of these genes is altered, the fight or flight response becomes reset on high for life, thus encouraging swelling and diseases. That may make the children react disproportionately to the daily life stressors they encounter in adulthood and predispose them to various chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disorders, depression, and cancer.
Even though specific brain imaging or tests are not mentioned in this case study, this report will be based on experimental research. This methodology is ideal for determining the relationship between the effects of childhood trauma and the changes in the brain of children and for learning more about how individuals behave and think the way they do. By understanding what individuals tick, interested professionals and psychologists may explore approaches to preventing and treating mental illnesses. That is because the findings obtained using experimental study and brain imaging data are integral in understanding the human brain and behavior (McManus et al., 2022). Brain imaging data show that repeated overstimulation of the fight or flight system resulting from prolonged exposure to highly stressful experiences affects cognitive ability, brain structure, and mental health. One of the strengths of using brain imaging data is that the techniques are accurate and non-invasive, along with good spatial resolution (Prakoso et al., 2020). On the contrary, these methods have disadvantages, including an inability to consistently detect all neuro-ophthalmic disorders of intra-orbital and intracranial etiology.
Furthermore, studies have shown that acute stress on brain development produces a hormone that shrinks the hippocampus, the part of the brain that controls stress and processes memory and emotion. Similarly, studies done using magnetic resonance imaging showed that the greater an individual’s early childhood exposure, the lesser grey matter has in the central regions of the brain (Herzog & Schmahl, 2018). These areas include the amygdala, the fear-processing center, and the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for self-regulatory and decision-making skills. Children whose developing brains have been altered by traumatic events during early life are most likely to become grownups who end up overreacting to minor stressors.
After birth, children have sufficient levels of synaptic networks and nerve cells in their brains for normal functioning and in an attempt to understand the world around them. The microglia, non-neuronal nerve cells, are a section of the immune response responsible for neural pruning (Hesterman, 2021). The microglia prune synapses, inundating and digesting the entire brain cells and cellular waste, which is thus critical in the housekeeping role (Hesterman, 2021). When infants face the unpredictable, constant stress of childhood trauma, the non-neuronal brain cells get worked upon and thrash out neurochemicals that result in neuroinflammation. Belle and Jamie grow into adolescence with a lack of loving biological parents and a history of adversity. As a result, they will most likely develop affective disorders and bad decision-making and cognitive control skills in adult life.
Adverse childhood experiences make youngsters appear aged emotionally as compared to their counterparts, as the trauma prematurely ages children at a cellular level. Similarly, adults who have faced adverse childhood experiences in their early years stand a high risk of erosion of telomeres located at the ends of the deoxyribonucleic strands to keep the genome intact. According to Belsky (2019), as the telomeres are eroded, the children will become more susceptible to infection, and their cells will age rapidly. Inside the human brain, a network of neurocircuitry quietly hums along (Herzog & Schmahl, 2018). The function of this network is to unite parts of the brain connected with memory and thinking integration, and it is ready to aid people in figuring out what they must do next.
The dense connectivity in this part is to help individuals determine what is relevant or irrelevant. When children experience early trauma and are systematically thrust into a condition of flight, the neurocircuitry begins to go offline and no longer helps them with what to do as the surrounding environment tasks them. Additionally, youngsters who have experienced early trauma tend to have reduced connectivity in the anatomically medial frontoparietal network several years after the damage has occurred (Belsky, 2019). Their brains will not enter into a healthy idling position and thus have challenges in responding effectively to the things around them. According to researchers, a comprehensive brain-body route moves between the brain and the immunity system through the afferent and efferent lymph vessels (Belsky, 2019). For children who have faced adverse childhood experiences, the connection between physical and cognitive impairment is strong; the inflammatory cells that inundate an infant’s body when constantly stressed are shuttled from head to toe.
Another body of research shows that teens and children like Belle and Jamie who have experienced early trauma showed weak neural networks between the hippocampus and the frontal association cortex. Specifically, as Hesterman (2021) argued, girls show weakened connections between the visceral brain and the frontal granular cortex. The former plays a crucial part in finding out how emotionally responsive individuals are conceivable to be to the world around them in their everyday lives and how they perceive events (Belsky, 2019). Subsequently, such children will have weak nerve pathways and be in danger of having anxiety and depression in their adulthood. That partly explains why ladies are more likely to develop later mood disorders than men. The critique of this topic is that toxic early childhood experiences have harmful effects on the brain anatomy, chemistry, and gene expression in children. Ultimately, that weakens the developing brain’s architecture, resulting in long-lasting challenges, including behavior, learning, and mental and physical health. These subjects are relevant to the topics mentioned above, including neuroplasticity and brain regions affected by stress and traumatic experiences during early life.
In the early years, a child’s brain depends on relations to configure the brain’s function and structure. As a result, the nervous system needs more stimulation to achieve its full potential (Belsky, 2019). Thus, children require close relations with a few caring individuals and caregivers to attain healthy growth. As children grow up, their memories record everything in their environment as usual and reflect whatever is ahead of them. When an infant is harmed or neglected, their brain shall configure their encounters as standard, and their brain and cognitive development will be delayed. In addition, when a child is exposed to chronic childhood experiences, the effects of those memories on mental development appear instantly and may carry on from adolescence to adulthood.
Abandonment and neglect in the early years of life directly affect the development of children during adolescence, a crucial stage where nerve networks are developed. In the cerebrum, the latter regulates cognitive control while the former manages emotions (Belsky, 2019). Additionally, the prefrontal cortex exercises hierarchical power over the paleomammalian cortex and controls the management of feelings. Thus, exposure to early trauma within this brain development could elicit emotional regulation challenges (Herzog & Schmahl, 2018). Thus, traumatic early development impacts the behavior, health, and learning in the later life of the individuals. A stimulus transmitted to the brain through sensing circuits either post- or pre-natally and in the later stages of life differentiates the functioning of the nerve cells and neural connections. Nurturing in early childhood and the environment is crucial in early human growth and significantly impacts learning and cognitive and physical development throughout the life cycle.
Furthermore, adverse environments threaten general cognitive development in the teenage years. This sensitivity provides a risk for the cerebrum to achieve its complete genetic improvement due to the absence of an optimal environment and in situations where early encounters lead to maladaptive adaptations. According to Herzog and Schmahl (2018), in maturity, the long-lasting impacts of toxic stress and childhood trauma in children become more prominent, mainly in the fight-or-flight response system. Due to the constant stress and insufficient stimulation during the early years, a hostile environment shuts the brain’s cognitive control down, leading to a lasting lack of adequate input.
Constant toxic stress in the environment where a child is raised leads to weakened and fewer neural pathways in the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for thinking and learning. The lack of neurological stimulation in early childhood may lead to apoptosis. The more a child is abandoned, the more circuitries undergo premature pruning, resulting in lifelong developmental delays.
Effects of Deprivation on Children in Orphanages
Children like Belle and Jamie exposed to foster centers experience structural abandonment as they fail to get the nurturing and stimulating atmosphere needed for normal development and healthy cognitive growth. These children receive irregular and unfavorable staffing patterns, insufficient physical resources, and insufficient socially-emotional child-carer interactions (Nelson III et al., 2019). Regarding this case study, there is evidence that Belle and Jamie experience delays in the vital parts of their cognitive, physical, emotional, and hormonal growth and might follow deviant developmental pathways. Concerning physical growth, children in orphanages tend to show retarded physical development by lagging in their family-raised counterparts on key physical development characteristics, including height, the circumference of the head, and weight.
In addition, such children portray some forms of daily cortisol production compared to children in ordinary families. The chronically stunted infants suffer from obstetric hypoxia conditions and usually tend to undergo therapy to balance the working of the nerve system, involving corticosteroids and diazepam (Jiang et al., 2019). On the other hand, children raised in orphanages show substantial delays in intelligence quotient relative to those raised in biological homes. These little ones significantly diminished academic performance compared to those reared by their biological parents. Similarly, children randomly selected to be carers experience significant benefits in mental function (Jiang et al., 2019). Furthermore, children in orphanages experience attachment security as they are separated from their birth parents, among other caregivers. Thus, they are denied opportunities to establish continual and stable relations owing to the small amount and bad quality of contact with their parents.
The abovementioned problems show that Belle and Jamie may suffer from dysregulation of the endocrine and nervous systems, delays in brain growth and physical growth, and attachment disorder. Research indicates that, to a different extent, the deficits observed in foster children carry over in post-institutionalized foster children after they have exited the orphanages and are being brought up in a family environment. A study by the American Psychiatric Association shows that these elements are for a post-institutional syndrome (Desmond et al., 2020). In the case of Belle and Jamie, there is clear evidence for the group of signs and symptoms and a common underlying pathogenesis of this syndrome. Some behavioral and emotional problems considered typical of post-institutionalized children have also been reported in infants whose families have been maltreated.
Additionally, the scientific knowledge of how adverse early childhood experiences impact brain development is increasing. It should be used as a research-based insight into how parents should provide their children with love and resilience. Even though adverse early childhood experiences may have lasting effects, the brain has neural plasticity, and healing the affected parts is possible (Jiang et al., 2019). As research continues exploring the functional connections in the brain and what influences such circuits, there are targeted therapies, including cognitive behavioral therapy, that aid the brain in regaining operations more quickly and more completely.
Generally, a low intelligence quotient may be found in children with various developmental circumstances. The biological perspective in psychology has enabled researchers to understand better how the nervous system and the brain affect a person’s conduct. One of the critical insights throughout the case study is that chemical messengers move information between nerve cells and allow neurotransmitters from one area of the body to the nervous system (Jiang et al., 2019). By learning the brain’s normal functioning and how mental disorders and damage influence emotions, thinking, and behavior, scientists may develop innovative ways of treating possible illnesses that could arise (Jiang et al., 2019). Additionally, it is likely to locate a child who has never been institutionalized but presents several developmental challenges, low IQ, and attachment disorder resembling a post-institutionalized child.
How Brain Changes Post-Adoption and the Role of Neuroplasticity
Adverse early childhood experiences have lasting impacts on mental and physical growth, but one can be healed with the assistance of neuroplasticity. The brains of young ones, including that of Belle and her brother Jamie, continually change in response to what is happening around them. However, when people are put in challenging environments, for instance, during adverse early childhood experiences, various changes in the brain may lead to life-long cognitive and physical health problems (Miskolczi et al., 2019). Brain plasticity entails adaptive functional and structural changes of the neuroendocrine system to change its activity in reaction to internal and external stimuli. This process allows the brain to change in response to trauma and heal.
During early life, the brain is usually elastic, and connections between its regions increase in strength as children have varying adventures and understand the things that happen around them. Experiencing one adverse childhood experience, such as violence, deprivation, neglect, or abuse, may have lasting impacts on an individual’s physical and cognitive health, like delayed-stress disorder, inability to regulate impulses or depression. The effects of trauma on the brain begin by triggering the amygdala, which is the doorkeeper of temperamental control (Miskolczi et al., 2019). Individuals who might have faced childhood trauma have decreased anti-inflammatory action from the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. This hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis collaborates with the craniosacral division of the automatic nervous system, which in turn aids individuals in calming and preventing toxic inflammation (Miskolczi et al., 2019). An inflammation induced by traumatic events might alter how neurotransmitters function in the human brain, eventually affecting brain development.
After Belle and Jamie are removed from the orphanage, their brain can re-wire themselves in response to their past experiences. Due to technological advancements, including brain imaging technology, neural plasticity is a long-lived quality. This suggests that irrespective of age, it is most likely for the nervous system and the brain to re-wire from adverse childhood experiences by having supportive, positive, and new experiences. Additionally, therapy like eye movement desensitization and reprocessing alters the way traumatic brain information is stored in the brain using rhythmic tapping or eye movements (Yunitri et al., 2020). The adoptive parents of Belle and Jamie may go for this medical procedure because it alters the brain structure as it works by weakening the connections of the fear memory in the amygdala.
Moreover, the therapy increases low-frequency rhythms in the brain’s memory areas, a state likened to slow-wave sleep. That disables fear receptors so that the brain may be reconfigured and no longer associated with strong emotions. Without the psychological response from the amygdala, the hypothalamus may permit the relaxation system to take charge (Sciaraffa et al., 2018). By harnessing neural plasticity through repetitive actions and practice, the brain builds and reinforces novel neural pathways to learn new habits, skills, and reasoning to heal from past traumatic experiences.
One of the recommendable therapies for healing Belle and Jamie from their adverse early childhood experiences is cognitive behavioral therapy, which identifies and interrupts negative patterns of thought, resulting in a behavior change. Prolonged exposure therapy is another intervention that may help traumatic victims study stress tolerance and self-soothing techniques as they deal with triggers in a safe space (Sciaraffa et al., 2018). Finally, cognitive processing therapy proves beneficial as it helps the patients restructure the beliefs they take away from the traumatic occurrence.
Conclusion
Children raised in orphanages show maladaptation and delays in diverse developmental domains. Collective and not shared characteristics of the foster homes and specific temperamental, physical, and hereditary traits of the children may make a huge difference even if early foster upbringing leaves irreparable scars. Throughout the report, a reader can understand the importance of biological psychology and how it strives to explore thinking and behavior. Subjecting children to unrelenting and chronic stress in their early life, such as in the case of Belle and Jamie, causes damage to the architecture of their developing brain, which might result in lasting problems in behavior, learning, and mental and physical health.
One of the key takeaways from this report is that the early life of human growth establishes the primary function and architecture of the brain. Early childhood experiences affect the following stages of life, and through the advancement of neurological pathways, individuals understand how early life impacts the later stages of growth, particularly the brain. The function and architecture in a person’s brain are sculpted by a lifetime of experiences that affect the functioning and architecture of the neurobiological pathways. This experimental study has explored the impacts of adverse early childhood experiences on the brains of Belle, Jamie, and other people. The effects of deprivation on children in orphanages are discussed in detail, as well as the changes that occur in the brain post-adoption and the importance of neuroplasticity in healing the brain from past traumatizing experiences.
References
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