Is childhood trauma a risk factor for mental health disorders?

Question

Hi doctor,

I do not want therapy, but I would like your opinion on what kind of personality or problems a person could develop as an adult if the following happened to him as a child. He got sick as a kid from meningitis. His uncle was a pediatrician and placed him on a first check in the hospital to make sure that the child was calm as a patient. He forbade his mother from seeing him in the hospital, and the mother did not come after a dramatic goodbye scene from the kid at the hospital.

He was four going five at that time. In the hospital, he was tied up to make sure the baxters did not get disturbed. At night, his father and the doctor sneaked in unannounced to grab him for a spine puncture. As the kid wrestled and cried from the pain of the puncture, the uncle was very angry and said that kids should not cry. So, the next time it happened, the kid shut up and vowed not to make a sound. After seven days at the hospital, the kid was then taken to his uncle's house, where his aunt took care of him, and this continued for a full month. Only after a month, he saw his mother again.

Please help.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I can understand your concern. The given events are traumatic. When a person experiences continuous traumatic events in his life, he could develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This could happen at any time during his life. During his young adolescent and young adult days, this may not have happened. But it could happen in later stages, especially in old age.

The second possibility is obsessive-compulsive disorder (continuous negative thinking). But, this has to happen during his adolescent age period and should continue further.

The third possibility is depression and anxiety. This should also start in the person's adolescent age period and should continue further.

The fourth possibility is psychoses, but this incident is rare. If the person has not experienced anxiety, depression, OCD, etc., during their younger years, those may not be due to the incident that happened in childhood. They could have developed those for other reasons now. PTSD is a possibility, but again, a psychological assessment is needed.

The above are all theory, and these could happen, but not for sure at all. There are many people who underwent continuous traumatic incidents in their childhood but lived unscathed throughout their lives. Mental resolve is the key.

I hope this helps.

Kindly revert in case of further queries.

Thank you.