When we are threatened, our bodies prepare us to respond by increasing our heart rate, blood pressure, and stress hormones, such as cortisol. When stress response systems are activated within an environment of supportive relationships with adults, these physiological effects are buffered and brought back down. The result is the development of healthy stress response systems. However, if the stress response is extreme and long-lasting, and buffering relationships are unavailable to the child, the result can be damaged, weakened systems and brain architecture, with lifelong repercussions.
Toxic Stress
Learning how to cope with adversity is an important part of healthy child development.
When we are threatened, our bodies prepare us to respond by increasing our heart rate, blood pressure, and stress hormones, such as cortisol. When a young child's stress response systems are activated within an environment of supportive relationships with adults, these physiological effects are buffered and brought back down to baseline. The result is the development of healthy stress response systems.
However, if the stress response is extreme and long-lasting, and buffering relationships are unavailable to the child, the result can be damaged, weakened systems and brain architecture, with lifelong repercussions.
It’s important to distinguish among three kinds of responses to stress: positive, tolerable, and toxic. These terms refer to the effects of the stress response systems on the body, rather than the stressful event or experience itself.
- Positive Stress Response is a normal and essential part of healthy development, characterised by brief increases in heart rate and mild elevations in hormone levels.
- Tolerable Stress Response When faced with more intense and prolonged challenges, such as the death of a loved one, a natural disaster, or a scary injury, the body's stress response becomes more heightened. However, if this activation is limited in time and supported by relationships with adults who assist the child in adjusting, the brain and other organs can recuperate from potentially harmful effects.
- Toxic stress response can occur when a child experiences strong, frequent, and/or prolonged adversity—such as physical or emotional abuse, chronic neglect, caregiver substance abuse or mental illness, exposure to violence, and/or the accumulated burdens of family economic hardship—without adequate adult support. This kind of prolonged activation of the stress response systems can disrupt the development of brain architecture and other organ systems and increase the risk for stress-related disease and cognitive impairment well into the adult years.
When an individual experiences toxic stress response continually or from multiple sources, it can have a lasting impact on their physical and mental health. The more adverse experiences a person has in childhood, the higher the chance of developmental delays and later health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, substance abuse, and depression. Research also shows that having supportive and responsive relationships with caring adults early in life can help prevent or reverse the damaging effects of toxic stress response.
This is neatly explained by Pooky Knightsmith in one of her series of really useful videos: