August 12, 2016 – Getting Docs Involved

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Anchor lead: Helping childhood wounds heal may need physician help, Elizabeth Tracey reports

If childhood trauma renders adults more susceptible to a variety of diseases, as reported in many studies discussed by Donna Jackson-Nakazawa at a recent symposium at Johns Hopkins, what can physicians and the health care system do to help?

Jackson-Nakazawa: Simply being asked about childhood trauma by a trusted physician or health care provider helps individuals to feel that this relationship is true, that their past has played a role in the feeling that they’re swimming against this impossible tide of unwellness, they are then able to face this truth, accept it, and begin to take their own healing journey.  :30

Jackson-Nakazawa says her research has shown that there’s not a single path to overcoming the negative impact of childhood trauma, so those who’ve suffered such trauma should choose interventions that seem likely to work for them, beginning with a trusted health care provider.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.