McCormack Family Law | Top Divorce Lawyer | Child Custody & Support

The first post on toxic stress in children talked about how it can:

 impair development of brain circuits;

suppress the body’s immune system, rendering a child vulnerable to disease

cause cognitive deficiencies in learning and memory centers in the brain;

cause children to become unable to deal with stress in the future.

Toxic stress affects kids for a lifetime. According to a recent paper from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (NSCDC), toxic stress early in life can lead to lifelong anxiety disorders, depression and substance abuse, as well as physical problems including diabetes, stroke and cardiovascular disease.

Can a divorce really lead to such drastic consequences? Better question: Why wouldn’t it? To put it bluntly, high-conflict divorce with parents openly fighting can create an environment characterized by violence and neglect— whether parents and families intend it or not. As NSCDC makes clear, violence and neglect are two producers of toxic stress in kids.

It takes a very skilled professional to diagnose childhood toxic stress. But there’s reason to think about seeking help for a child who:

generally over-reacts to events and stimuli

does not make eye contact or show empathy

is anxious and hyper-vigilant

has unusual trouble remembering things

has a strong aversion to certain stimuli— lights or sounds, for instance

regularly engages in repetitious, automatic behavior

appears insensitive to social surroundings and cues

noticeably tunes out information that is not immediately important

shows a level of thinking low for their age

seems to be behind in language development

There’s no set pattern of signs but several of these behaviors persisting over many weeks suggests that professional evaluation would be worthwhile.

Next time: Avoiding toxic stress.

Tags: Children, divorce, Parenting

To respond: blog@tmc-law.net.