G. A. Bradshaw, Allan N. Schore, Janine L. Brown, Joyce H. Poole and Cynthia J. Moss
Social trauma: early disruption of attachment can affect the physiology, behaviour and culture of animals and humans over generations.
The air explodes with the sound of high- powered rifles and the startled infant watches his family fall to the ground, the image seared into his memory. He and other orphans are then transported to distant locales to start new lives. Ten years later, the teenaged orphans begin a killing rampage, leaving more than a hundred victims.
A scene describing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Kosovo or Rwanda? The similarities are striking — but here, the teenagers are young elephants and the victims, rhinoceroses. In the past, animal stud- ies have been used to make inferences about human behaviour. Now, studies of human PTSD can be instructive in understanding how violence also affects elephant culture.
Psychobiological trauma in humans is increasingly encountered as a legacy of war and socio-ecological disruptions. Trauma affects society directly through an individual’s experience, and indirectly through social transmission and the collapse of traditional social structures. Long-term studies show that although many individuals survive, they may face a lifelong struggle with depression, suicide or behavorial dysfunctions. In addition, their children and families can exhibit similar symptoms, including domestic violence.
(I put this article here because it gives insight into how family systems disintegrate and even possibly societies. I encourage you all to look at and read the link to this article. One of the authors is Dr. Allan Schore, known as the American Bowbly). For those of you who are pediatricians there were two references to Schore's work that I know of in CME for pediatricians by the AAP. The first is Pediatric Update from 2003 and the second is a PIR article by Schore in 2005). The AAP update is archived on my computer. It was the only AAP update I saved. The PIR can still be found on the PREP site of AAP. This is very important information for us to know in whatever discipline we work in).
Sincerely,
Dr. Tina Marie Hahn, MD, FAAP
Here is the Link to Schore and Colleagues' Article
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