A significant amount of attention, money and resources are devoted to soldiers who return home after war and experience a host of issues that fall under the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Yet according to a leading expert on childhood trauma, the number of affected veterans is dwarfed by the legions of American children who are being abused and neglected. Those children, Bessel van der Kolk told Missoulians last week, experience their own psychological, emotional and physical trauma on a daily basis. And they are much the worse for it.
So prevalent is the problem, approximately one in four American children will experience a significant traumatic event by the age of 16.
As one of the psychiatrists who helped define and legitimize PTSD as a medical condition, van der Kolk said the time has come to dramatically change how we look at and treat the youngest members of our society.
Thanks and a hat tip to Marsha.