I recently watched an intriguing TED talk from Nadine Burke Harris. In this talk, Dr. Harris discussed finding the root cause of children who develop different physical and emotional disorders.

She explained that, during this research, she found that adverse effects of exposure to different experiences in childhood directly impact the developing brains and bodies of children. Dr. Harris also took time to identify specific adverse childhood experiences, which many parents may not view as being severe. These include parental mental illness, substance dependence, incarceration, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse as well as physical or emotional neglect, parental separation or divorce, and domestic violence. Dr. Harris spoke in-depth about how these adverse childhood experiences directly affect the mental and physical health of children and can continue later on in adulthood.

I found this video extremely helpful and hope some others do too!

Written by: Chelsey Beauchamp