Response to Rebecca’s Post
Hello Rebecca,
Thank you for sharing an informative post about the effects of trauma on teens and children. I agree with you that there is a need for considering the role of traumatic conditions in enhancing juvenile delinquency and the detention of many youths. As discussed by Young, Greer, and Church (2017), mental disorders are highly prevalent and severe among juvenile offenders compared with the average youth population. In furtherance, the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder among youth delinquents is about 20 to 23 percent. The above information means that social workers should target individuals who have experienced trauma and apply necessary interventions to prevent the onset of PTSD. Besides, another implication is that trauma and PTSD should be given priority when social workers are designing mental health interventions for juveniles. Therefore, the reliance on detention may not be a promising solution for addressing youth offending. Social workers should collaborate with health professionals to address the psychological disorders that the juveniles face.
I like your idea regarding the children’s exposure to traumatic situations before the age of four years. The knowledge of the above facts helps social workers to understand that they should implement programs to address mental health in the early years of age. As such, we should not focus on teens and adults while ignoring the kids. What are some interventions that you think social workers can use to address traumatic experiences among the children? According to Young, Greer, and Church (2017), one of the plans, which can help the children is the trauma-focused emotion regulation intervention. The above program can help the children with PTSD to acquire the skills for controlling their reactions to traumatic and stressful events. Thus, the strategy can prevent the development of PTSD among the children and reduce the rate of offending.
Reference
Young, S., Greer, B., & Church, R. (2017). Juvenile delinquency, welfare, justice, and therapeutic interventions: A global perspective. BJPsych Bulletin, 41(1), 21–29. https://doi.org/10.1192/pb.bp.115.052274