She eventually found a study that said majority of people that had a mental illness, or even a physical illness, such as cancer, had experienced abuse as a child. Harris realized through that information and how many of her patients had gone through abuse too, that child abuse was a key component in deciding the individual's health in the future.
Through the analogy of seeing a bear in a forest, she explained how when adrenaline, activated by something that scares us, like abuse from someone, can ultimately exhaust our brain if it is activated too frequently. What is meant to be a good, energetic defense mechanism, can ultimately be the cause of a very big health problem. When our brain is exhausted by that adrenaline when we are young, it damages the brain so that we are more likely to succumb to mental or physical illnesses.
Apparently, not many people are on board with the idea that many of these illnesses are due to abuse as a child. Harris said that not many people are enthusiastic to research more about this. If the information is true, than there is a simple fix to be said: Stop abusing children. It's that simple. Interestingly enough, many of the people that abuse their children are suffering from a mental illness themselves. While medication can sometimes be prescribed to help with those, the ultimate change needs to happen in the heart. If child abuse stops, according to this information, than the number of illnesses in this world will go down.
Here is a link to the Ted Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/nadine_burke_harris_how_childhood_trauma_affects_health_across_a_lifetime?referrer=playlist-how_does_my_brain_work#t-946755
- Christian
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