Emotional Concussions can be just as lethal, and sometimes even more so, than a physical concussion
Have you ever considered the term emotional concussion? Have you ever thought about what might be involved in an emotional concussion?
Emotional concussions occur when young children
- Live in homes controlled by alcohol, drugs, explosive tempers
- Live in homes full of stress
- Live with dysfunctional adults
- Have exposure to people who are physically, emotionally and/or sexually abusive
- Experience the divorce of their parents
From the ACEs Too High website we find,
“The life-in-dysfunction emotional concussion is a day-in-day-out brain bludgeoning by stress-induced hormones of adrenaline and cortisol. It wires developing brains for flight, fight or freeze. It can set people up to pass on the family legacy of dysfunction.”
Very few people pay any attention to the emotional concussions our kids are saddled with on a daily basis. Even though the kids who live in the middle of these battlefields are injured emotionally every day of their young lives, most of their cries go unheard.
Checking for concussions
Unlike a physical concussion where a coach or someone checks a child’s pupils to see if they are dilated, holds up two or three fingers to make sure the kid isn’t seeing double, and asks them a few questions to make sure the child is cognizant, no one checks the kid who has an emotional concussion. There is no concern that the child has another new dad in the home. No one checks to see if the child is home alone late into the night because mom has to work two jobs to make ends meet. No one notices it is the same kid who is in trouble all the time.
Also, unlike a physical concussion where a kid is taken out of the game and must have a doctor’s permission to return, a child with an emotional concussion is sent right back into the emotional mayhem. There are no do overs or time outs for these kids. Most of them have no coach or outside adult who will oversee their wounds. Mostly, they are just patted on the head, told to stop their unruly behavior, get themselves straightened up and get back in the game.
Many children of divorce have emotional concussions. And, like physical concussions they can run the gambit of being light or severe. For the child of divorce who has a support system and concerned adults outside the home they will not have a severe emotional concussion.
For kids who have warring parents, no support system outside the home, and are stuck right in the middle of the war zone, their emotional concussion is more severe. Some kids will never completely recover and will carry the scars of the emotional concussion with them for the rest of their lives. It will affect everything they attempt to do.
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Source: Church Leaders
BCNN1 WP 