Addressing the Hidden Epidemic of Child and Adolescent Trauma | Emma Barrett | TEDxFulbrightSydney
it's just so overwhelming the memories keep flooding back the booze doesn't help anymore my whole life has been torn apart let's imagine Mary for a moment from a very young age Mary witnessed her father physically abusing her mother on numerous occasions he would come home drunk start arguments start pushing and shoving start punching and kicking Mary remembers running to hide at these times she was so terrified so scared and so helpless I should have done something to help she says I should have helped my mum during her teens Mary moved out of home and things got a little better for her she met a nice guy and they soon moved in together she says at the time she started drinking a bit of alcohol and smoking pot just to socialize or relax with friends but it was never a problem for her then she says at some point her partner's behavior became quite controlling and this controlling behavior soon turned abusive so for a period of up to three years Mary was physically mentally and sexually abused by this person mary has difficulty recalling these these events because she says she starts to drink quite heavily then and and smokes a lot of pot in order to cope with the situation she does remember however being able to escape this destructive relationship she moves out of the area and starts a new life elsewhere she seeks some help for her alcohol and her drug use and manages to cut down on and off for a number of years she also meets the man who was to become her husband and has two children with him Mary doesn't know how or why but in the past year she started getting really vivid flashbacks of what she'd witnessed as a child and what she'd experienced as a teenager she also has difficulty sleeping has nightmares every night and has really intense physiological reactions when she's reminded of the trauma so when someone sneaks up behind her or when she's watching TV she can start to shake and uncontrollably she also describes feelings of shame and guilt associated with the trauma and as a result is drinking a lot drinking up to a bottle of vodka a day and this has had a significant impact on her life and in particular an impact on her husband and children to put it simply Mary was at her worst when she came to us for help I'll come back to Mary in a moment now this story may resonate quite strongly with some of you here tonight and it may have even brought up some difficult or uncomfortable emotions for you it may relate directly to you or directly to someone you know now this isn't surprising given how common trauma is traumas like sexual abuse physical abuse natural disasters or motor vehicle accidents are all a lot more common than we think in fact it's highly likely that the person sitting next to you at work or sitting next to you on a bus or or standing next to you in in a queue at a shopping center has experienced traumas just like these during their childhood or adolescence child and adolescent trauma has been described as an epidemic a hidden epidemic but I come here tonight with some good news in line with tonight's theme we now have the knowledge to address the hidden epidemic of trauma with compassion we can make sure that this knowledge is accessible to the people who need it it's stories just like Mary's that I've heard from over a hundred men and women seeking treatment for alcohol or drug use problems I've been overwhelmingly moved and privileged to hear such deeply personal stories stories that people have secrets that people have held onto so tightly for so many years for most people who experience trauma they do recover after some months however for others trauma can have a lifelong debilitating impact on their lives and impetus Keela if the trauma is experienced during younger years my research has shown that for people who experience trauma before the age of 17 they're up to four times more likely to experience mental health disorders later in life mental health disorders like depression anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder in order to cope with really intrusive and distressing and painful thoughts and feelings many people use alcohol or use drugs in order to medicate or numb these feelings the problem with this that is that like Mary they can then develop an alcohol or drug use disorder in addition to their mental health disorder and with that comes a whole new raft of challenges and difficulties for the individual but as I said we now have the knowledge we now know what works in the treatment of co-occurring mental health disorders and drug and alcohol use disorders and that's integrated treatment traditionally what we've done is not treat the individual as a whole basically we've asked them to cut down or quit their drug or alcohol use and then after some time expect them to seek help for their mental health symptoms elsewhere this separate siloed treatment approach really isn't working as effectively as it could be and in fact we now know that in many cases the integrated treatment approach is much more effective so that's treating the mental health disorder and the substance use disorder at the same time by the same clinician I mean it's simple isn't it it really shouldn't be that groundbreaking but it has been and at the moment there's a huge shift to this integrated treatment model internationally so we now have this knowledge we now know that integrated treatment works but this isn't an issue that science alone can solve there's still a missing piece to this puzzle and that piece is compassion many people don't ask for help and many people don't seek treatment in fact we know that only one in three Australians living with alcohol use disorder ever seek treatment so only one in three and among those that do it can take up to two decades before they first ask for help why is that when I've asked that question people have told me that it's because they feel ashamed it's because they don't feel worthy of help they don't feel they deserve help and they worry about being judged and sadly this is reflected by many views in society and so this is where compassion can play a key role a key role in encouraging people to ask for help of course it can be difficult to care for someone if you don't know their story or if you don't understand why they're in the situation that they're in but think back to how you felt when I told you about Mary's story and in particular when I told you about Mary as a child vulnerable scared and blaming herself it's those feelings that I'm talking about tapping into those kinds of feelings when we see someone in need someone distressed someone worthy of her of help and it's as simple as that just building that human connection imagine how powerful that could have been for Mary if she sensed that someone understood her or if she felt that someone thought she was worthy of help I believe she would have sought treatment much much sooner if we all can work together to build a higher level of compassion many more people will ask for help and many more people will access these effective integrated treatments I believe only then can we truly address the hidden epidemic of child and adolescent trauma thank you you