Trauma is exposure to a life-threatening event, severe injury, or sexual violence. It can be a single traumatic event or a series of traumatic experiences. Post-traumatic symptoms develop in some people, disrupting their lives and causing persistent fears that significantly affect them. For children, trauma hinders their school performance and social relationships, according to Dr. Shafiq Masalha.
Children are vulnerable to trauma from the age of one and older. When we look at the effects of trauma on a child, we see that although there are similarities with adults, children also have specific characteristics. For example, both children and adults may experience post-traumatic symptoms such as disturbing nightmares related to the traumatic event, waking up frightened and panicked. However, unlike adults, children often do not recount the details of the dream or its events.
Children, like adults, re-experience the traumatic event, but they often express this through play. They choose games related to the trauma and act them out in ways that reflect the event. For example, a child injured in a fire may play with fire-related themes, while a child who has suffered sexual abuse may engage in games with sexual behaviors.
Parents often notice changes in their child’s behavior after trauma, such as mood swings and sudden, unexplained outbursts of anger. This is linked to the child’s difficulty in verbally expressing thoughts and feelings. Parents and teachers may also observe that the child withdraws from friends and avoids playing with them. Some children may also show difficulty concentrating and a decline in academic performance.
Children and adolescents who have experienced trauma often struggle with low self-esteem, feel unwanted, and may display apathetic behavior that could put themselves or others at risk.
The role of parents comes first, followed by teachers, in noticing children who display post-traumatic symptoms and providing them with support and assistance. Key points to focus on include listening to the child and encouraging them to express themselves, especially about the traumatic event, and motivating them to participate in activities with peers of the same age group. It is essential that the child feels safe and emotionally supported by caregivers, whether at home or in school.
In some cases, the deep effects of trauma disrupt the child’s life to the extent that professional psychological therapy is recommended. Research and therapeutic experiences also highlight meditation as an important tool that children can be trained to practice. Meditation helps counter anxiety, and increases psychological, mental, and physical calmness that may have been disrupted by trauma.
For this reason, Tawazon has chosen to pay close attention to the mental health of children affected by traumatic events, raising awareness of their struggles and providing a collection of meditations available through the app. These can be accessed anytime, anywhere.
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