by Shu Cao Mo HGSE EdM ’15 and Zijun Wang
PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, affects many people, and children in particular, are most vulnerable to trauma. In China, millions of children have been victims of sexual assault. Those who are exposed to chronic trauma suffer the impact of subsequent trauma, leading to longer-term health issues. Given the rise of domestic violence during the overall high stress environment of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the recent high-profile case on child sexual abuse, HAEd Greater China Chapter’s Co-Chairs Weiqi Zhang (HC BA ‘10) and Shu Cao Mo (HGSE EdM ‘15) decided to use the occasion of International Children’s Holiday in China to host a virtual conference on PTSD and Sexual Health Education. The conference was co-organized with Splash Institute, a community health imitative that aims to destigmatize trauma and pleasure in female sexuality, and sponsored by Global Changemakers, a nonprofit based in Switzerland.
Dr. Aldrich Chan, clinical neuropsychologist and founder of the Center for Neuropsychology and Consciousness (CNC) based in Miami, gave a keynote address that offered an introduction to PTSD and the impact of trauma on the brain. Based in Hawaii, Singaporean musician and storyteller Jasmine Chin (HGSE AIE 16’) harnessed the power of stories, inspiring the audience to reflect on collective cultural trauma. The conference ended with a workshop on Sexual Health Education by Nicole Inglis, a health promotion facilitator on the Sexual and Reproductive Health Promotion team for Alberta Health Services based in Alberta, Canada.
Here we’ve selected some key points to share with the Harvard Alumni for Education community:
You can’t just let the sleeping dogs lie Trauma doesn’t go away when those who have suffered ignore, forget or even push the original traumatic event away. When children repress traumatic memories, their brain structures—affected and molded by past experiences—will still dictate their PTSD behaviors, driven by their nonconscious memory. Some cultures place a high value on social harmony and trauma is not openly discussed. It is critical for people living in these cultures to seek help from mental health professionals. In almost every PTSD study, hyperactivity is found in the amygdala, part of the sympathetic nervous system which activates the fight and flight mode in our bodies. Psychotherapy allows these individuals to heal the damage in the hippocampus and amygdala by developing different interpretations and reducing the negative emotional impact associated with the experience.
In general, symptoms of PTSD include Intrusions, Avoidance, Hyperarousal and Negative Mood and Cognitions. These individuals experience high incidences of violence, abuse, relational difficulties and suicide in later life. To suffer from PTSD does not necessarily require past physical or sexual trauma: emotional trauma such as neglect can cause an equal amount of disorder on the brain. The brain structure and function are damaged to varying degrees based on the impact of trauma.
Dr. Chan shared different medical interventions with the audience, from psychosomatic therapies to the latest Stellate Ganglion Block. One account described curing a male patient of sexual abuse PTSD and how the process of re-balancing the nervous system takes time and patience. He concluded with a discussion of his current research focus on the Default Mode Network, which has the potential for effective diagnosis and intervention strategies of PTSD in the near future.
Storytelling gives me my power back How to face trauma in the immediate loss of one’s power? Jasmine Chin (HGSE EdM‘15) comes from a family lineage of hardy Hakka women, who did not bind their feet and fought alongside men as warriors. However, as a child in school and at home, she had grown accustomed to remaining silent so as to be liked and to escape the shame of disapproving authority figures around her. Jasmin Chin shared the story of how she moved courageously from the horror of a silenced and devastating experience to regaining her voice and strength in her early adulthood. She wielded her superpower of a caring personality to fight for justice, with the aspiration of preventing future gender-based violence.
Below is the sharing of her story’s final chapter.
“It’s been exactly 9 years since I first told this story, and I’m still telling it today. I’ve told it so many times, in so many ways, but it always makes me feel vulnerable, heartbroken, outraged, and empowered altogether.It sees and listens to The Child.It heals and believes The Survivor.It breaks and strengthens The Warrior.This is The Power of storytelling, not just for me, but for all of us.”
After watching Jasmine’s performance, the audience was left with a sense of “awe,” “catharsis,” and feelings of “swirling powerful” (quoted directly from the audience). One audience member even said: “you have been kissed by pain in your life, and as a response, you sing songs to it.”
It’s important for parents to talk early about sex with their children
Sexual health education expert Nicole Inglis, who has taught at public and religious schools in Calgary, Canada, framed her workshop around the following questions: Why do we need to talk about sex and sexuality at home? What do we talk about? How do we talk about it? Children begin touching their genitals as early as four-years-old. It’s a result of natural curiosity, feel-good sensations as well as about our inherent sexuality as humans. Moreover, since modern day media is so saturated with sex, the question of sex inevitably comes up between children and their caregivers. Studies have shown that when children receive good sexual education, they start having sex at a later age, have fewer partners, and are less likely to contract Sexually Transmitted diseases.
She emphasized the importance of knowledge in reducing shame around sexual health education and in sexual violence prevention. Nicole Inglis told the story of a child going through physical changes before learning anything about what happens during puberty, and that she got so terrified thinking that she might have developed breast cancer. Many girls, if they do not receive any sexuality education, think that they are dying when they see that they start bleeding. The emotional and social changes that accompany physical changes are equally massive.
Nicole Inglis also warned current and prospective parents of the danger of not using correct names when teaching children about their private body parts. She shared a sad incident from her own teacher training workshop where a female student of one of her trainees had a few years earlier disclosed being sexually abused by her uncle, but since she couldn’t find the proper word for her private parts, the teacher had missed the incident and failed to take any follow-up action.
The key in sexual health education is for parents to be open to sex-related conversations, which include, but are not limited to: for whom pornography is made; what age-appropriate sexual behavior means; how family religious tradition influences sex. Instead of making sex conversation with their children into one big thing, parents should catch little teachable moments in life to inform and enlighten children about sexual health over the years.
After the conference, HAEd Greater China Chapter and Splash Institute created WeChat discussion groups that enable participants to have ongoing interactions around the topic. If you are interested in being part of the conversation, please reach out to Shu Cao (shucao@splash-institute.org) or Zijun (zijun@splash-institute.org).