Essay, Research Paper: "Child Abuse ‘Rewires’ Brain"

The article “Child abuse ‘rewires’ brain, produces adult problems”, Marilyn Elias, talks about how child abuse and neglect cause brain damage, that may last throughout your adult life. Elias brings up Martin Teicher’s report, published in the journal Cerebrum, which states that the brain changes due to impact of a trauma. Examples of defects may be aggression and personal disorder. He talks about some differences between normal brains and brains of the traumatized. The studies have concluded poor development in the left hemisphere, a smaller pathway between the hemispheres, and electrical impulse disturbance. Elias conclude, that not everyone is affected in a negative way, there are incidents where the abused party see themselves as cheerful and courageous, and how they are most likely to succeed in at least one field (D1).
As a person with no personal experience of abuse, I found this article most intriguing. To me it doesn’t come as a surprise that a trauma affects people. Every action and influence in today’s society affects people in some way. The interesting part of this article is in which particular areas traumatized people are being affected, both positive and negative. What impresses me is how people can convert something negative into something positive, not only because of themselves but the environment around them (D1). To conclude my opinion about Elias’s article I wish to end it with a quote from Martin Greenberg that occurred in the article. The quote reminds us not to neglect the neglected and abused, as it states “They shouldn’t be viewed as hopeless” (Elias D1).



Bibliography


Elias, Marilyn. “Child abuse ‘rewires’ brain, produces adult problems” USA TODAY 14
December 2000: D1


Word Count: 260