Dr. Jamuna N

The problem of early childhood trauma refers to disturbing experiences that take place in children during 0-6 years of age. The traumas that young children experience can be the effects of natural disaster, war or accidents or that of intentional violence like sexual abuse, domestic violence or physical abuse.

What Does this Condition Impact Childhood?

Traumatic events have a significant impact on your child's life and can break his sense of safety. The problem has been linked with a decrease in the size of the brain cortex. This is the part of the brain that controls several complex functions like thinking, consciousness, memory, attention, awareness, and language. The changes that occur as a result can affect your child's IQ as well as his or her ability to control emotions. As a consequence, he or she may harbor feelings of danger and become more afraid or it may manifest in other personality issues which are not very obvious.

How do you identify this condition?

Generally, children who suffer from traumas face problems in regulating their emotions and behaviors.

They may display signs like:

- Fear of new situations
- Being clingy to their parent(s) or somebody close
- Become easily frightened
- Display aggressive and/or impulsive behavior
- Are difficult to comfort
- Display deterioration in behavior and functioning
- Easily forget newly attained developmental skills
- Difficulty in sleeping

Depending on the age during which your child may go through a traumatic event, he or she can exhibit signs relevant to his or her age.

For instance:

Children aged 0-2 years may also display reactions like poor verbal skills, memory problems, excessive temper, experience nightmares, etc.

On the other hand, children aged 3-6 years can face difficulties in learning as well as develop poor skill and learning disabilities, face problems in social interaction, may be unable to trust people and so on.

If this condition remains unattended or unresolved for longer, it may create personality issues and can deeply impact the individual's relationships, or equations in the society, as they grow up and even after they become adults. In fact, many behavioral problems can be traced back to childhood trauma.

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!

The concept of alternative medicine is no more a novel proposition. It is a tried and tested way of dealing with physical as well as psychological problems. The aim of “Ayurveda” is to strike a corrective balance amongst three essential kinds of energies present in the human body. Ayurveda classifies these energies as 'Vata', 'Pitta', 'Kapha”. While “Vata” deals with bodily functions related to circulation of blood or breathing, “Pitta” primarily deals with metabolism. On the other hand, Kapha is concerned with regulation of growth in the varied organs and cells of your body. Anxiety disorder is a crushing problem if left unattended; Ayurvedic care and certain significant changes in your way of life can treat the condition.

Ayurveda asks you to adhere to the following guidelines to control anxiety disorder:

1. Basil has wide ranging effects on your anxiety: Add basil leaves to a bowl of water and let it boil. Once the mixture cools down, drops of this juice can be poured down your nostrils. Basil is known to have calming effects on your mind. It is often advised for its ability to fight stress piling up in a human mind with every passing day. Chewing basil leaves can render the same benefits.
2. Add these substances to your bath water: Bathing leads to relaxation and plays a key role in controlling your anxiety. You could be anxious due to familial issues or work related matters; a bath at the end of the day soothes your mind helping you to think clearly. Using ginger and baking soda in your bath water can further relieve you from being unnecessarily anxious.
3. Drink your orange juice with a difference now: Orange juice, when taken in combination with honey, acts on an increased heart rate. It lowers down a person’s heart rate and also treats anxiety disorder. Oranges, as you know, are rich in vitamin C and can tackle stress by decreasing the effects of cortisol. Cortisol is better known as the stress hormone. So avoid sugar and try honey instead with your daily share of orange juice.
4. Add almonds and saffron to your glass of milk: The one glass of milk that you drink regularly for nutrition and calcium can be made way more nourishing by adding saffron, almonds, nutmeg powder and ginger to it. This concoction helps in curing a frazzled nervous system thus, ridding you of anxiety disorder. Milk with almonds and saffron should be spiced to maintain the myelin sheath on each nerve of your body. This fatty layer does have a very calming influence on you. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult an ayurveda and ask a free question.