Children and Toxic Stress

As a parent or caregiver you are a brain architect. The majority of brain growth occurs in young children between the ages of birth to five years so caregivers have a very important role in helping children to build their integrated brains. A healthy brain is one in which all the parts of the brain work together. It is important for parents and caregivers to understand that trauma is a form of toxic stress that can interfere with brain development. Understanding toxic stress is just as important as knowing how to safety proof a home.

Trauma is defined as a life threatening or extremely frightening experience for a child or someone he or she cares about that overwhelms the child’s ability to cope. Young brains that are not fully developed are more severely affected by trauma because they do not have the ability to manage their response system. Brain scans of adults clearly show that there are significant differences between a healthy adult brain and one that has had a trauma history.


There are many different types that include acute, chronic, complex, and historical. Acute trauma is a single event such as a natural disaster, loss of a loved one, or a major medical treatment. Chronic trauma is ongoing multiple traumatic events such as domestic violence or living in a dangerous community. Complex trauma is ongoing or multiple events inflicted by adults entrusted with the child’s care such as a child who is repeatedly abused, placed in a foster home, and abused by a foster parent. Historical trauma occurs among specific groups due to traumatic events such as displacement of Native American communities, racial oppression and slavery. It may have happened long ago but it
continues to affect future generations.

If you are caring for a child who has a trauma history, it is important to realize that a challenging behavior may be in response to an implicit memory. This memory can trigger a child to re-experience a traumatic event as if the situation is happening now. The number one strategy in this situation is to calm their regulatory system. To bring them back from the past to the present you can assure them that they are safe, that you are with them now, and that you will keep them safe.

Another important strategy for working with children who exhibit challenging behaviors is to gain a self-awareness about your own responses to stress. Understanding your own triggers will help you maintain control in stressful situations. Also learning to balance stress with self-care is vitally important for your own physical, emotional, and relational health. The lack of self-care leads to burn-out and compassion fatigue which impacts all areas of your life.

For more information about how childhood trauma affects health watch Dr. Nadine Burke Harris's 15 minutes TED Talk...