Toxic stress response can occur when a child experiences strong, frequent, and/or prolonged adversity—such as physical or emotional abuse, chronic neglect, caregiver substance abuse or mental illness, exposure to violence, and/or the accumulated burdens of family economic hardship—without adequate adult support.
Toxic stress weakens the architecture of the developing brain, which can lead to lifelong problems in learning, behavior, and physical and mental health. When a child experiences toxic stress, the Hypothalamic Pituitary and Adrenal (HPA) hormone axis is over-activated.
It is important to understand, not all stress on children is harmful. Researchers identify three types of stress: positive, tolerable and toxic. Children need small doses of positive stress as they grow.
Toxic stress decreases the size and impairs the functioning of the regions of the brain responsible for learning, memory, executive functioning (prefrontal cortex, hippocampus). As a result, the child is placed at risk for having learning and behavior problems.
Toxic stress response can occur when a child experiences strong, frequent, and/or prolonged adversity—such as physical or emotional abuse, chronic neglect, caregiver substance abuse or mental illness, exposure to violence, and/or the accumulated burdens of family economic hardship—without adequate adult support.
Research in Alberta shows that the most common triggers of toxic stress in children are: Parental mental illness. Parental substance abuse. Parental abandonment or divorce.
A national WebMD survey found that parents rate school and friends as the biggest sources of stress in their kids' lives.
For young children, tensions at home such as domestic abuse, separation of parents or the death of a loved one are common causes of stress. School is another common reason – making new friends or taking exams can make children feel overwhelmed.
To know whether a child is experiencing toxic stress, parents and caregivers can keep an eye on behavior – is your child acting or feeling differently than normal? Other signs may include prolonged anxiety or sadness, difficulties concentrating at home or school, and being overly threat-sensitive, risky or reclusive.
Toxic stress results in prolonged activation of the stress response, with a failure of the body to recover fully. It differs from a normal stress response in that there is a lack of caregiver support, reassurance, or emotional attachments.
It can disrupt early brain development and compromise functioning of the nervous and immune systems. In addition, childhood stress can lead to health problems later in life including alcoholism, depression, eating disorders, heart disease, cancer, and other chronic diseases.
We may feel toxic stress when we face strong, frequent, or prolonged challenges. These can include abuse, neglect, violence, or substance use in the home. These experiences can trigger our body's stress response. This response floods our body with "fight or flight" chemicals.
Anxiety may present as fear or worry, but can also make children irritable and angry. Anxiety symptoms can also include trouble sleeping, as well as physical symptoms like fatigue, headaches, or stomachaches. Some anxious children keep their worries to themselves and, thus, the symptoms can be missed.
1. 45% of students in high school admit to being stressed almost every day in school. 2. 61% of teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 feel stress over producing satisfactory grades.
Other stressors include being homesick, academic or personal competition, personal pressure to do well, social anxieties, and heavy workloads. Students also feel stress when they get too little sleep, a poor diet and even from having too much downtime.
Teens may use self-inflicted injury as a way to cope with (or find relief from) emotional pain, strong feelings (such as anger, hurt, sadness, despair, shame, frustration, rejection, or isolation), intense pressure, or relationship problems.
Stressful environment
Children can pick up anxious behaviour from being around anxious people. Some children can also develop anxiety after a series of stressful events. They may be able to cope with one of these events, but several difficult events together may be too much for them to cope with.
Young children who experience toxic stress are at high risk for a number of health outcomes in adulthood, including cardiovascular disease, cancers, asthma, and depression.
Repeated or severe activation of stress hormones can increase levels of inflammation throughout the body which can then, over time, lead to damage to the heart and arteries. Toxic stress can even damage the immune system leading to a higher risk of infection or development of autoimmune diseases.
Toxic stress may be acute, cumulative, or chronic. Individual stressors do not have to be actually traumatic to create toxic stress; long-term severe stress may be harmful even without acute traumatic events. Toxic stress and trauma may occur together.
Traumatic reactions can include a variety of responses, including intense and ongoing emotional upset, depressive symptoms, anxiety, behavioral changes, difficulties with attention, academic difficulties, nightmares, physical symptoms such as difficul- ty sleeping and eating, and aches and pains, among others.
Adults with histories of trauma in childhood have been shown to have more chronic physical conditions and problems. They may engage in risky behaviors that compound these conditions (e.g., smoking, substance use, and diet and exercise habits that lead to obesity).
“Chronic stress inhibits the production of the two most powerful hormones that promote bone growth. “These are growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor-1. A lack of these hormones can stop growth in height.”