Lucinda Rossouw

P.O. Box 66037

Riebeeckstad
9469

Student number: 42515270

Module code: EDPHOD8

Assignment 01
TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE

1. EVALUATION AND PLANNING 2

1.1. The effects of a traumatic experience 2

1.2. Observation of effects 3

1.2.1. Effects of a poor stepparent relationship and/or signs of abuse 3

1.2.2. Possible signs of racism 3

1.3. Possible effects of Maslow's hierarchy of needs on James's behaviour 4

2. COUNSELLING FOR JAMES 5

2.1. Counselling and support for learning problems 5

2.2. Psychological development, contribution of stage to behaviour and 6

developmental goal

2.3. Parent involvement/parent counselling 7

2.4. Guidelines for an individual assistance programme 7

1. EVALUATION AND PLANNING

1.1. The effects of a traumatic experience

During trauma, normal functioning disintegrates in people. When a person perceives a threat, the
initial stages of a complex, total-body response will begin. The brain orchestrates, directs, and
controls this response. The more threatened an individual feels, the further their brain and body will be
shifted along an arousal continuum in an attempt to ensure appropriate mental and physical
responses to the challenges of the threat. The cognitive (thinking), emotional, and behavioural
functioning of the individual will all reflect this shift along the arousal continuum.

During the traumatic event, all aspects of the individual's functioning change, including feeling,
thinking, and behaving. For instance, someone under direct assault abandons thoughts of the future
or abstract plans for survival. At that exact moment, all of the victim's thinking, behaving, and feeling
is being directed by more primitive parts of the brain.

The arousal continuum is characterized by many physiological changes. Under threat, sympathetic
nervous system activity increases in a gradual fashion. Heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration are
altered during the arousal response. Glucose stored in muscle is released to prepare the large
skeletal muscles of your arms and legs for either a fight or a flight.

These changes in the central nervous system cause hyper vigilance; under threat, the child tunes out
all non-critical information. These actions prepare the child to do battle with or run away from the
potential threat.

During the hyper arousal process, many physiological systems required for survival are activated
(e.g., stress response hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline). The many physiological changes
during hyper arousal will influence the way a person thinks, feels, and acts.

Senior phase/FET learners has vulnerable psyches. Adolescence is a time of change and testing out
as teens move toward independence. This stage of development is accompanied by an increase in
impulsivity. They do not see the connection between their actions and consequences. The transition
through these years can be rough and stressful at times as adolescents are most vulnerable to social
and psychological pressures. By adolescence, boys depression can go unrecognized and/or
expressed through anger and violence.

Children have different reactions towards divorce. Many react with shock, anger or despair and show
grief, loss or emptiness and restlessness. These children, especially adolescences, are likely to have
a lower self-esteem and self-image, have more interpersonal difficulties, are encompassed by guilt
feelings and social embarrassment because of what happened to their family. They start to regress,
withdraw and become aggressive or depressed. Compared to children of intact families, many
children of recently divorced families are reported to demonstrate less social competence, more
behavioural problems, more psychological distress and more learning deficits. Some children harbour
the fantasy that their parents will be reunited in the future. Such children show animosity toward a
parent's real or potential new mate because they are forced to recognize that no reconciliation is
taking place.

Teens commonly feel that their parents’ divorce is their own fault. They often feel they could have
helped to prevent the split and wish they had prevented arguments by cooperating more within the
family. Adolescents often feel betrayed or rejected by one or both parents, and their trust in the
parental relationship is damaged, if not lost. Because trust is built on how a person is treated by
another person, a person's trust level is greatly affected by divorce. No one, including a child, knows
how they are going to be treated during or following divorce. This aspect of loss, loss of trust, causes
feelings of respect to dissolve. Children feel this same loss of trust or betrayal. Feeling betrayed by a
parent is very difficult for a child. “The intense feelings of shame, guilt, and confusion. . . . ” are too
much for them to carry. Children turn these feelings in toward themselves, and this is demonstrated in
their behaviour and attitude. Their fear of abandonment is overwhelming, and the fear stays with
them. Children know they need adults to survive, so feeling betrayed is extremely intense for them
and often feels like abandonment.
Because a traumatic incident is, by definition, exceedingly unpleasant, there is an understandable
tendency, at the moment one is occurring, to resist and protest it as best one can. It is at just such
moments of extreme physical and/or emotional pain, according to Gerbode (1989), that one's thinking
(evaluative cognition) is least likely to be well-reasoned and objective and most likely to be irrational
and distorted.

People who went through a traumatic experience could possibly suffer from post traumatic stress
disorder and they often struggle with intense anger or rage, and can have difficulty coping with an
impulse to lash out verbally or physically -- especially if their trauma involved physical abuse or
assault, war, domestic or community violence, or being humiliated, shamed and betrayed by people
they needed to trust.

1.2. Observation of effects

1.2.1. Effects of a poor stepparent relationship and/or signs of abuse

Lots of change takes place in a child's life when their parents' divorce and remarry and it is often
difficult for them to cope with this effectively. Children in blended families may at first resist the many
changes they face.

However, the internal and emotional issues that children face are far more pronounced and
important to handle effectively. This can include:

 Loss of familiarity
 Loss of self-esteem
 Fear of abandonment
 Insecurity that tomorrow is unpredictable
 Displaced anger and extreme sadness
 Difficulty tolerating changes
 Continual feelings of confusion
 Difficulty in adjusting to the new family structure which may manifest in the form of
behavioural problems
 Poor performance at school
 Earlier sexual involvement
 Higher rate / likelihood of substance abuse
 Missing their biological parents and perhaps being afraid to say so
 Bottling up feelings and being unable to express themselves effectively
 Embarrassment and anxiety about being "different" e.g. having to explain why their mom may
have a different surname, anxiety when having to do a project about their family at school,
feeling awkward at school functions when both sets of parents are there etc
 Feelings of guilt and responsibility for their parents' divorce and a sense of failure in not being
able to re-unite their parents. Most children fantasize about their parents getting back together
and the introduction of a step parent means the end of these dreams. This can sometimes
result in children feeling the loss of their parent and family structure all over again.
 Confusion with all the change in their lives e.g. different parenting styles, routines, values etc
 Anger and resentment
 Inability to grieve at the loss of their family structure or parent as a result of having to be the
emotional support for one of their parents

After the remarriage, the children must share their parent with another adult and perhaps with other
children. They wonder how often they will see their biological parent. They may be deeply concerned
about whether there will be a place for them in the new household unit. Teenagers may be asked to
give up their role as man of the house or father's helper and return to being a child again.

1.2.2. Possible signs of racism

How do you know if someone or something is racist? Sometimes it can be hard to recognise racism,
especially if you’re not the target. The problem is some people are deliberately racist while others
might behave in a racist manner without meaning to hurt other people. In the same way, some
systems or rules or organisations might discriminate against some groups of people either deliberately
or without intending to. Here are some examples of racism that might occur in schools.

Signs of racism

 making fun of clothes, food or physical appearance of people from different cultures
 telling jokes directed against people from particular groups
 using insulting language about particular cultural groups
 making fun of people’s accents or names
 refusing to work or play with or sit next to other people who are from a different culture or
speak a different language
 writing graffiti against people from particular cultural backgrounds
 stereotyping people from different cultural or linguistic groups
 telling people to ‘go back where they came from
 not including students from particular backgrounds in class activities
 favouring students from some backgrounds more than others
 not helping students from some backgrounds as much as others
 expecting students from some cultural or linguistic groups to do better or worse than others in
schoolwork
 not respecting people’s different religious beliefs
 bullying students from different cultural and linguistic groups
 assaulting people from different cultural backgrounds.
 Prejudice - unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, especially of a hostile nature,
regarding a racial, religious, or national group.

1.3. Possible effects of Maslow's hierarchy of needs on James's behaviour

Maslow's theory is usually depicted in the form of a triangle to demonstrate ascendency.

Abraham Maslow believed that we are motivated by unsatisfied needs, and that needs listed lower on
the triangle need to be satisfied before higher needs can be reached. Basic needs must be met
before those on the next level become important. The lowest needs are BIOLOGICAL AND
PHYSIOLOGICAL needs. The next are SAFETY, the third are BELONGINGNESS AND LOVE
needs. The next higher are ESTEEM needs and the highest is SELF-ACTUALIZATION.

Maslow's original triangle had 5 levels of basic needs. He later further delineated the hierarchy to
include three other levels breaking our human needs into 8 levels. He arranged them in a hierarchy
such that we are motivated primarily by a need only if the lower level needs have been met. Thus
before one feels compelled to address cognitive and aesthetic needs, one needs to have taken care
of things like biological, safety, etc. needs.

In James's circumstances there were interference in Security needs and Esteem needs.

Physiological Needs: These needs consist of things like oxygen, food, water, and a relatively
constant body temperature. They are the strongest needs because if a person were deprived of all
needs, the physiological ones would come first.

The safety and security needs: After the physiological needs the need for security, stability, protection,
freedom from fear, anxiety and chaos emerge and according to them, the need for structure, order,
law, borders etc. Maslow thought we all need some degree of routine and predictability. A major part
in child development is to give them insight in how the world is functioning, and thereby reduce the
fear of the unknown. Children have a need for order, structure, rituals and borders because it gives
them an ability to find security in a big world. Injustice and unpredictable behaviour from parents such
as the divorce and the remarriage in James's situation creates insecure children because the world
gets unpredictable as his routine has changed. That's why chaos, aggression and disturbance in the
home environment are a major block for establishing security in the child. James might also
experience feelings of insecurity and fear of the future. The many and often unavoidable changes
that accompany divorce can undermine a child's sense of security and make them fearful of the future
- about "what's next?". Will we be poor, will we have enough to eat, will I have to go to a new school,
will I lose my pet rabbit, will I still see my friend? In short they will fret about all the things that are
important in their world.

The need to belong and be loved: Once the individual’s physiological and safety and security needs
are fulfilled, the need to belong and be loved comes to the fore. Thus this need encompasses being
accepted socially, belonging to a group, being loved by someone as well as loving someone. When
these needs are not attended to, and stay unfulfilled, the individual’s social functioning decreases, as
rejection is experienced. This experience of rejection exerts a definite impact on the individual’s self-
concept, which in turn will further obstruct the individual’s social functioning. Children of divorce may
feel rejected and unloved by the parent who has left. This makes little sense until we remember that
children perceive themselves as the centre of the universe. Therefore everything that happens must
have something to do with them.

Self-esteem need: There are two types of esteem needs. The first is the self-esteem which is the
result from competence or mastery of a task. Second there's the attention and recognition that comes
from others. This is similar to the belongingness level, however, wanting admiration is related to the
need for power. Children of divorce may feel lonely. They miss the intimacy, comfort and particular
parenting skills of the absent parent. The parent at home may be so wrapped up in their own
problems, their anger, sadness, fear and feelings of worthlessness, that they are not available for their
children. Children may seek intimacy and comfort elsewhere or become withdrawn. The adolescent
feels rejected by everyone and has difficulty forming relationships with peers, parents, teachers and
others.

Self-actualization: This is " the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything
that one is capable of becoming." People who have everything can maximize their potential. They
can seek knowledge, peace, aesthetic experiences, self-fulfilment, oneness with God, etc. Fully
functioning, mature adults allow for all possible variations of self-actualization and integration. This is
something to strive for as we expand our capacity for intimacy through intuition. At the same time, it is
also necessary to be aware of our own personal boundaries and the limitations of our tolerance. Only
then can we move toward acceptance of those who are different from us and eventually reach the
transcendent levels suggested by Maslow, where we recognize that we are all part of the same whole
of humanity. This includes the ability to love without judging, and to fill our heart with compassion for
those who are different from us.

On hand of the above explanations James's deficiency needs were not met and he could not develop
growth needs such as understanding and self actualization.

2. COUNSELLING FOR JAMES

2.1. Counselling and support for learning problems

Counselling can be defined as a facilitative process during which the counsellor, working within the
framework of a special relationship, uses specific skills to help young people to help themselves more
effectively (Gillis 1997:2).

Support is not counselling. It is guidance in the form of teaching and support provided by someone
you trust usually a teacher, a parent or relative, a supervisor or a counsellor.

James shows significant performance deficits in academic achievement as reflected in all his school
subject results. James is a high ability student since he always had high school marks but is currently
not realizing his full potential which can be seen clearly through the discrepancy between his
academic potential (previous high marks) and how he is actually performing in school (sudden drop in
marks). Establish a study routine for James. This needs to be the same time every day. Let James
have some input on when study time occurs. Once the time is set, he must stick to that schedule. Kids
thrive on structure even as they protest it, this might be something he needs at the moment given that
his family structure collapsed and failed him. Offer James some support in the form of a study method
and a way to manage home study time.

2.2. Psychological development, contribution of stage to behaviour and developmental

goal

Erik Erikson developed an eight-stage model of psychosocial development. He viewed the developing
person as moving through a series of eight psychosocial crises over the course of the life span and
each crises takes on special significance at a given period of the life cycle. Each crises is seen as a
challenge that the individual must resolve and each crises builds on the previous ones. So, the
successful resolution of each challenge depends on the healthy resolution of the challenge that
preceded it.

James is in the period of adolescence, the stage that Erikson discusses as Identity vs. Role
Confusion (puberty to young adulthood). He believed that the way in which the adolescent resolves
the crises of identity will have an impact on his/her struggle with the crises of adulthood.

As peer relationships become more important and adolescents try to loosen the ties to their parents,
dealing with a divorce forces adolescents to juggle the demands placed upon them by their family and
their need for development. In 1987, Kalter wrote about 3 possible ways teenagers try to meet these
competing demands.

1 Teenagers regressively retreat from adolescence and appear to be a middle or late

elementary school child in terms of dress, interests, etc. They become more socially isolated
from their peers and become more emotionally invested in their family. They remain a child
within the family.
2 Adolescents appear much older and more mature than they really are. These adolescents
appear especially stable and responsible and become a new “adult” resource for the family—
especially the parents.
3 Adolescents appear very rebellious and their antisocial behaviour and conflict with parental
authority represents their desperate struggle to separate from their parents.

Divorce threatens the secure base that adolescents depend upon so they can leave home and
separate from their parents. They often have two very different reactions; they either feel they have to
grow up quickly and then leave or that they can't grow up at all and must stay home for their parents.
Both interfere with the adolescent’s ability to successfully develop a sense of identity. Sometimes in
these situations, adolescents can become prettified. This means that they are forced to take on roles
of parents without receiving any sort of acknowledgment for it; it is as if these responsibilities are part
of their job as adolescents rather than them chipping in when needed. In taking on these roles they
become restricted from experimenting with different roles and identities, which is an important
introduction to establishing a coherent sense of identity. He was popular in his peer
group but now his world has changed. Learners from other culture groups who
entered the peer circle, perhaps are more popular. They have different values and he feels
threatened. Boys at this age tend to feel angry when threatened.

Identity Confusion
Failure to achieve basic trust in infancy leads to adolescents who:
• Don’t trust the future, feel unable to produce change
• Express despair verbally with "I don't know," "I give up," and "I quit"
Failure to achieve autonomy, initiative, and industry in childhood
leads to adolescents who:
• Feel self-doubt, shame, and inferiority
• Cope through narcissistic or self-defeating behaviour
Failure to achieve identity in adolescents leads to adults who:
• Have difficulty with emotional and sexual intimacy
• Maintain a state of personal isolation (extreme instance)
• May also not be able to achieve identity in own future occupation, sex roles, politics and
religion.
Help for James: Focus on developing a positive self image, praise James regularly for all good deeds
or activities he does. This goes a long way in improving a child's self esteem. The compliments should
be genuine and from the heart. Encourage James, encouragement in school especially by teachers
greatly enhances a child's self esteem especially in the school setting. Also help James cope with his
experience and motivate him to move forward with his live. Take time to do things that make him feel
special, valued and thought of under the conditions of positive reinforcement. Students should be
encouraged to persevere and strive daily to achieve their best potential. Initiate a conversation
around his parent’s divorce and mother's remarriage by bringing up a common experience or interest
between you and James, do not dominate the conversation, instead listen to him and show him that
you really care about what he is saying.

et James's parents and step father involved. Parents are the most important partner in a child's
education and schools can reap large dividends by capitalizing on their support. The benefits of
parent involvement are clear: A growing body of research shows that successful parent involvement
improves not only student behaviour and attendance but also positively affects student achievement.

2.3. Parent involvement/parent counselling

Parent counselling: Interview parents to get information about the climate in the home, family
relationships (enmeshed, cold, conflicting) and parental styles(permissive, authoritarian,
authoritative/democratic).

Counselling can help in:

 Exploring reasons why “good kids go bad”

 Exploring the cause of the conflicts
 Understanding the adolescent’s violence
 Understanding parent and adolescent expectations
 Learning to stop the bad things continuing
 Learning to stop adolescent violence
 Repairing the damage
 Creating a better home environment
 Building respect and trust
 Setting clearer boundaries and responsibilities
 Building better relationships

Parent involvement: Motivate parents to become involved in school activities of their son. Team
building with teachers. Successful parent involvement can be defined as the active, ongoing
participation of a parent or primary caregiver in the education of his or her child. Parents can
demonstrate involvement at home-by reading with their children, helping with homework, and
discussing school events-or at school, by attending functions or volunteering in classrooms.

2.4. Guidelines for an individual assistance programme

A barrier to learning is any factor, either internal or external to the learner, that causes a hindrance or
"barrier" to that person's ability to benefit from schooling (Donald et al 2002:4).

James suffers from anxiety, a feeling of excessive worry about a possible danger or an uncomfortable
situation that is intense enough to interfere with a person's ability to concentrate and focus. Students
can have genuine reasons to be anxious like to worry about their families going through a divorce.
Anxiety in any of its forms can interfere with a student's performance in school.

Consult with the learning support team, educators (his classroom teacher and the teachers of problem
modules/subjects) share knowledge and skills with each other. Through collaboration and
consultation, educators support each other and indirectly support the pupil.
Prioritize needs – this may be based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs where the basic lower level
physiologic needs must first be met before one can move up to the higher, more abstract level of
needs.

Conduct an audit of barriers that cause learning breakdown by doing a SWOT (strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis of the following:

 the quality of the development and transformation process

 the school curriculum
 academic and personal empowerment for citizenship
 ethos and human rights
 partnership in education
 human resources management
 physical resources management

Analyse the situation by determining how the following socioeconomic barriers impact on the above
aspects:

 lack of access to basic services

 poverty and underdevelopment
 factors that place learners at risk
 attitudes
 inflexible curriculum
 language and communication
 inaccessible and unsafe learning environment
 inappropriate and inadequate provision of support services
 lack of enabling and protective legislation and policies
 lack of parental recognition and involvement
 disability
 lack of human resources development strategies

Reflect on the implementation and maintenance of the following interventions:

 the minimization of weaknesses

 the minimization of threats

Facilitate community based support systems which in this case will be the school-based support team.
This is the structure that forms the basis for the development of support for schools, and educators,
parents and learners should be represented on it. Its primary function is to support the learning
process by identifying and addressing barriers to learning and participation, and accessing support
from the community. The inclusion of expertise from local and district communities could strengthen
the support team.

HOW TO CREATE A CULTURE AND GENDER FAIR CLASSROOM

Sex is a biological difference that is relatively fixed at birth. Gender, however, is a social construct
that refers to the thoughts, feelings and behaviours that have been labelled as predominantly
"masculine" or "feminine".

 Examine your own attitudes and behaviour for possible gender bias. Teachers can
inadvertently communicate gender-role expectations and stereotypes.
 Model the behaviour you want learners to adopt, and reinforce learners for behaving in non-
stereotypical ways.
 Expose learners to a variety of gender roles that illustrate both women and men in non-
stereotypical roles. Choose curricular materials with a balance of gender roles, and select a
variety of role models for guest speakers, tutors and mentors.
  Encourage learners to use non-sexist language, and help them to identify linguistic bias in the
materials they read or the programme they view.
 Use a variety of instructional strategies to meet learners' individual needs and to help them
develop strengths in areas where their skills are weak (McCown et al 1992:111-112).
 Look for ways to present diverse perspectives, experiences and contributions. Present
concepts in ways that represent diverse cultural groups.
 Include materials and visual displays that represent members of all cultural groups in a
positive manner.
 Provide as much emphasis on contemporary culture as on historical culture, and represent
cultural groups as active and dynamic.
 View your instruction holistically so that multicultural aspects will permeate all subject areas
and all phases of the school day.
 Draw on your learner' experiential backgrounds, daily lives and experiences.
 Make sure all learners have equal access to instructional resources, including computers and
special programmes, as well as you (adapted from Baruth & Manning 1992:175-176, McCown
et all 1992:111)

Golden rules for teachers:

 Administrative efficiency and dealing with problems as promptly as you can.

 Listen carefully and genuinely. Take time to do so.
 Set clear boundaries to help the learners know what they have responsibility for and what you
have responsibility for in each situation.
 Know who to refer particular problems to.
 Never attempt to take a learner's "side" in a dispute without first checking
- that their side of the story fits with that of others involved in it
- which other staff should, or already do, know about the problem
- what viable options there are for learners to solve the problem themselves with or
without emotional "scaffolding" (Beck & Earl 2000:62-64)

The following signs can make a teacher aware of the needs of a learner:

Richards and Bates (1997: 441) contend that in order to work with children's reactions to traumatic
events effectively one must become familiar with normal signs of stress. They distinguish between
different symptoms to stress, which includes physical symptoms, emotional symptoms and cognitive
symptoms. Physical symptoms include upset stomach, no coordination, diarrhoea, dizziness, rapid
heartbeat or breathing and sleep disturbances. Behavioural symptoms include school absenteeism,
disrespect for others, poor social skills, substance abuse, and increased risk taking behaviour.
Emotional symptoms experienced are the following: fear, anxiety, guilt, sadness, irritability,
withdrawal, feelings of helplessness and worry about others. Cognitive symptoms include confusion,
distressing dreams, poor attention span, and impairment in concentration, difficulty naming objects,
academic difficulties, learning disabilities, lowered IQ and poor communication skills.

Counselling is not

 a fact-finding interview
 a lecture on how things should be
 a debate about different points of view
 an opportunity to hold forth on one's personal opinions or values
 an interrogation-type interview, requiring answers to a stream of questions
 a search for a medical-type diagnoses
 a probe for deep-seated psychological motives or conflicts
 a vehicle for moralising or judging
 simply giving advice (except under rare circumstances)

Practical skills for the teacher in pastoral role: Communication skills

Non-verbal skills
Establish an environment that is conducive to counselling. Most counselling training describes the
discrete skills of listening with similar words, but typically, a listener needs to attend to the speaker,
which means position him or herself to indicate to the speaker that the speaker is the centre of the
listeners attention. Those behaviours can include eye contact, body position, even turning the head to
the side, giving the client your ear, so to speak, encouraging comments from the listener, mirroring
body positions. (You will be amazed at how much mirroring behaviour happens in a session). Since
most communication occurs nonverbally, the listeners nonverbal behaviours are critical in the
establishment of trust and safety for the speaker, who may be revealing personal secrets never before
revealed.

Verbal skills

Use a tone of voice that shows interest, concern, and friendliness.

Use of “I” and “You” messages: ”I experience your behaviour as if there is no consideration…”
and not:” You should change your behaviour…”

Active listening

• Opportunity to verbalise feelings

• Sharing makes the problem lighter
• Empathise - The teacher understands the motivation behind behaviour

DISCUSSION: APPLY KNOWLEDGE ON PROBLEM SITUATIONS SUCH AS:

Sexual Abuse

Behaviour of an adult who abuses
children
 Exceptionally protective
towards child and jealous;
 Discourages contact with
peer-group when there is
no supervision;
 Acts seductively towards
child;
 Indicates that the spouses
have marital problems;
 Abuses alcohol and/or
drugs.
Behaviour of an abused child Physical indications of child
abuse
 Sexual play with self, others  Pain or unusual itching of
and toys; genitals or in anal area;
 Sexual vocabulary and/or  Torn, stained or
behaviour not age- bloodstained underwear;
appropriate;  Pregnancy;
 Drawings or descriptions  Injuries to genitals or anal
with sex theme not age- area, e.g. bruises, swelling
appropriate; or infection;
 Strange, sophisticated or  Sexually transmitted
unusual sexual knowledge, diseases;
e.g. flirtation;
 Difficulty in sitting or
 Promiscuity and/or
walking;
prostitution;
 Regular urinary infection;
 Continual absconding;
 Throat irritations and/or
 Fear of seduction by
soreness or mouth sores
members of the opposite owing to forced oral sex.;
sex;
 Unwilling to participate in
certain activities;
 Sudden deterioration in
school progress;
 Poor relations with peers;
 Withdrawal, fantasising,
uncommonly childish
behaviour;
 Crying without provocation;
 Depression, attempted
suicide.;

Anger, violence etc.

Anger is a feeling expressed in physical and emotional ways, often connected to other emotions. It is
a feeling response to a situation based on personal interpretation of the situation, given one's values,
beliefs and past experiences (Sisco, 1991). "This emotional response can range from feelings of mild
displeasure or imitation to feelings of fury or rage" (Sisco, 1991, p.3). The physical response to anger
includes increased adrenaline flow, increased heart rate, rise in blood pressure, dilated pupils, tensed
muscles, flushed faces, clenched hands, and hotness, coldness, or numbness in different parts of the
body (Sisco, 1991). All or some of these symptoms can occur. These are natural signals and
reactions which indicate to the individuals that something is threatening or wrong (Defoore, 1991;
Sisco, 1991; Tavris, 1989). Anger protects people by warning them when they feel their safety is
threatened. Anger can also be related to other emotions. Sisco (1991) stated that, "Sometimes other
emotions such as fear, hurt, guilt, shame, sadness, jealousy, frustration, loneliness, even joy, will
trigger anger in us. When this happens, anger can become a way of covering up or defending
ourselves from these other emotions" (p.4). Anger is natural; however, the manner in which a person
decides to express his anger can be problematic. If anger is expressed inappropriately, it can turn into
other disturbing emotions such as hostility, resentment, bitterness, and hate (Sisco, 1991). How a
person expresses anger in a given situation depends on past experiences, values and beliefs.
Individuals learn from their families, friends, schools, society, culture, and personal experiences what
is acceptable.

Depression

Depression can be a temporary response to many situations and stresses. In adolescents, depressed
mood is common because of:

 The normal process of maturing and the stress associated with it

 The influence of sex hormones
 Independence conflicts with parents

It may also be a reaction to a disturbing event, such as:

 The death of a friend or relative

 A breakup with a boyfriend or girlfriend
 Failure at school

Adolescents who have low self-esteem, are highly self-critical, and who feel little sense of control over
negative events are particularly at risk to become depressed when they experience stressful events.

Adolescent girls are twice as likely as boys to experience depression. A family history of depression
makes children more likely to have depression.

Events or situations over which a child or adolescent feels little control can cause depression:

 Bullying or harassment at school or somewhere else

 Child abuse - both physical and sexual
 Chronic illness
 Learning disabilities
 Poor social skills
 Stressful life events, particularly the loss of a parent to death or divorce
 Unstable caregiving

Many adolescents with depression may also have:

 Anxiety disorders
 Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
 Bipolar disorder
 Eating disorders (bulimia and anorexia)
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www.childtraumaacademy.com

www.portpsych.com