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WELLNESS JANUARY 08, 2021 | The Indian Eye 42

the need for the promotion of

trauma-focused therapy in india

niques to target traces of trauma
Jaylina Jhaveri lodged in our brains and bodies
and divest them of their emo-
hild trauma exists all
around us, in house- tional charge. This is what leads
Cholds, in educational to effective healing. Other ther-
establishments and as bonded apies such as yoga and mindful-
ness have also been examined
labour. Children account for in a trauma-focused way. They
15% of victims of trafficking. are used in a targeted fashion
According to WHO’s estimate in terms of their effect on brain
1.7 billion children all over the
world undergo abuse of some and nervous system function.
kind every year. We do not like India’s population comprises
to acknowledge the reality of 440 million children. They con-
stitute one fifth of the world’s
child trauma as it frightens us. total child population. Many
But we cannot wish it away. The of them have inadequate pro-
effects of trauma manifest as tection from ACEs due to tra-
severe and lifelong mental and
physical illnesses. It is estimated ditional factors such as poverty
that 13% of the global popula- This photo has been used only for the purpose of representation. Credit: Pxhere and illiteracy but also because
India is modernizing at break-
tion is affected by mental illness neck speed. Modernization
today. than 130 million children in the ation in DNA leading to depres- processes such as urbanization,
world, including toddlers, have sion which can be transmitted rising aspirations, the break-up
we see how trauma af- been diagnosed with ADHD. trans-generationally. Such is the of the joint family and changing
More than 80% of them are devastation trauma can cause.
fects society as a whole. being treated with quick fix Neuroscience shows that gender equations put children
in middle- and high-income
child trauma as it exists drugs such as Ritalin with de- traumatized brains are different families too under enormous
velopmental consequences for from non-traumatized ones. A pressure. But resources to han-
right now has evolutionary their brains and bodies. Many seminal 1997 study in the US dle India’s mental health de-
children are being diagnosed identified a number of traumat-
implications. how we han- with paediatric bipolar disorder. ic stressors labelled as Adverse mands are lacking. WHO data
dle it will affect our future They are treated with potent Childhood Experiences (ACEs). indicates that there are just 0.3
psychiatrists and 0.04 psycholo-
as a species. it is psychia- medication too. These extend from abuse and gists per 100,000 people in India.
The contemporary under- bereavement to exposure to
try’s greatest challenge. standing of mental illness func- poverty. If a child is exposed We therefore urgently need
tions on the basis of a mind- to one or more of them, a bar- to augment the resources in
this critical yet underserved
Despite more than a cen- body rift. There is a lack of rage of stress hormones will put
tury and a half of modern psy- appreciation of trauma as a pri- his brain and body into a state sector. India has a large ed-
chiatry, mental illness is poorly mary contributing factor. Stud- of chaos. The fear centre in ucated class, a network of
understood. Mental disorders ies have found that between his brain will get stimulated af- universities and a pool of
psychothera-
well-qualified
are primarily understood in 40 to 70 percent of patients re- fecting emotion-regulation and pists. They would benefit great-
terms of their symptoms. They porting to psychiatric outpatient cognitive function. This is how ly from cutting-edge training
are treated within a biomedical clinics have histories of trauma mental illness will set in. But in the field of trauma-focused
framework, through medication. which are not factored into their neuroscience has established to
But psychiatric drugs constitute treatment. Modern society has what extent the brain is plastic. therapy. This would give much
superficial treatment. They act a scientific bias and the lack of If it has been affected by adver- needed support to the cause of
as damage control. The patient knowledge about how trauma sity it will also respond to heal- trauma treatment in India.
gets symptomatic relief but is re- translates biologically into men- ing. But therapy has to adapted Jaylina Jhaveri writes on
duced to living in survival mode. tal illness has been a major im- to this outcome. It needs to be mental health, women and
In addition, these drugs cause pediment. Neuroscience, how- trauma-focused. child rights and culture.
harm in the long run. They in- ever, has established a scientific Trauma-focused therapy is
terfere with the brain’s natu- correlation between child trau- rooted in the connection be- She is setting up a training
ral functioning. What is really ma and mental illness. For ex- tween the trauma experience program in trauma therapy for
alarming, however, is the rate ample, childhood trauma has and our physiological and emo- Indian psychotherapists as well
as a trauma survivors’ network.
of medication of children. More now been correlated to an alter- tional response to it. It has tech-

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