I am very delighted that the ACEs community is actively responding to the humanitarian crisis that was created by President Donald Trump's administration, concerning the separation and detention of children of immigrants that attempted to cross the US border.
Many concerned citizens responded to this ruthless act of incivility in the press. Another very strong article by a Japanese American who was stripped of citizenship rights and detained in a camp during World War II, with her parents was referenced at ACEs Connection.
https://www.pacesconnection.com...rvivor-yourtango-com
When I heard of the news about the brutal separation policy that was enacted at the border and approved by Trump's Attorney General, I was finishing a book titled "Babies Need Mothers" by Dr. Clancy D. McKenzie.
In his book, Doctor McKenzie outlines a theory that connects schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder and many other mental disorders with a history of the early childhood trauma, specifically with trauma that is caused by separation of an infant from his or her mother.
Even a seven day hospitalization due to the birth of a sibling, that was practiced in the past, was enough to increase the risk of mental illness in the first child if that child was under 3 years of age. This correlation is well documented in the medical records and Dr McKenzie relied on this correlation to prove his theory since his research is severely underfunded.
According to Dr McKenzie, early childhood separation trauma that occurs during the first three years of life, creates a traumatic imprint for the rest of one's life. When the patient experiences similar emotional conditions to those that preceded childhood trauma, a patient shifts back into the early childhood gestalt, leading to symptoms that we classify as schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, major depression and some other mental disorders.
The Two Trauma Mechanism theory, explains why many patients experience their first symptoms of schizophrenia in their early 20s. After patient's first separation with a girlfriend or a boyfriend occurs, the strong emotions shift them back to infancy, when the traumatizing separation from their mother occured.
The theory outlined in "Babies Need Mothers" allows one to predict the specific age when the original trauma occurred, with an accuracy of 2 weeks, by the symptoms that appear in adulthood.
I work in a wellness and recovery center and we exchange a lot of interesting literature and communicate some very fascinating theories in psychology and in psychiatry, if we find them useful in practice.
(This is very different from what my psychologist friend studies at the University of Maryland, highlighting a great gap between academia and the science that aids us at our recovery center)
Within my community, I know a person who is a living confirmation of Dr McKenzie's theory. This person has read the book "Babies Need Mothers" and it helped them form a better recovery strategy.
The book itself is written with a touch of Christian Mysticism and I became a Christian mystic after reading this book. Some people may find this style of writing repulsive, yet don't be discouraged by the unique vision of Dr. McKenzie.
Press tends to forget an issue after it is no longer sensational.
I believe that we must remain attentive towards those children after the crisis is resolved, all the way through their childhood, well into their adulthood. Some of them may have a delayed PTSD and their symptoms will surface only when they become adults. Other children experience PTSD already and their condition will only worsen if it remains untreated.
We need to intervene as soon as we can and offer our understanding of trauma psychology to the children that are currently detained.
From a scientific standpoint this terrible humanitarian crisis may be an opportunity to test the theories of Dr Clancy McKenzie and to prove that many mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, have roots in early childhood trauma.
Hopefully, the children will grow up to find themselves in a trauma-aware world where theories of Dr McKenzie will be a part of the common scientific knowledge, where Adverse Childhood Experience tests would be a common practice and a variety of non-pharmaceutical therapies would be available to the patients of all income brackets, in the United States, in Mexico in Guatemala, in other Central and South American countries and in the rest of the world.
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