Figuring out how children themselves are responding to trauma tends to be particularly difficult, because they may not be able to communicate how they feel. For decades, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has worked with tens of thousands of children in struggling, often war-torn nations around the world who are suffering from what’s called toxic stress — a relentless cycle of trauma, violence and instability, coupled with a lack of adequate care at home. In some cases, the IRC has used drawing to help children open up or as a way to process their trauma. The drawings here, from IRC projects in Cambodia during the genocide, in Sierra Leone and Uganda in the early-2000s and in Jordan just last year, show what it’s like to endure displacement, violence and separation, through the eyes of the children themselves.
“Across decades, children are expressing the trauma of violence in very similar ways,” says Sarah Smith, senior director of education at IRC. She says drawings like these show just how urgent it is to intervene and provide psychological and social support.
Some argue children are also more resilient than adults because their brains are more malleable: the pathways and connections haven’t all been established, so it’s easier to make new ones. (For instance, it’s much easier to learn a new language as a child than as an adult.) But while it might be easier to bounce back from hardships when you’re younger, your sense of time and perspective is also altered and it’s tougher to determine what is a true threat to your life or wellbeing.
For children, evidence-backed approaches range from more universal ones — for kids who have been displaced or witnessed violence but aren’t showing symptoms — to more targeted ones for children suffering more severe repercussions. Mindfulness techniques, such as belly breathing and brain games — helping children practice concentration skills, for instance — have all helped children improve the skills most impaired by toxic stress. Larger-scale IRC programs in Congo, Pakistan and West Africa have indicated a positive impact for children’s learning outcomes and socio-emotional behavior.
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