Science isn't the problem, morality is
Feb. 18th, 2019 09:27 amWhat separation from parents does to children
“The effect [of forcibly separating children from their families] is catastrophic,” said Charles Nelson, a pediatrics professor at Harvard Medical School. “There’s so much research on this that if people paid attention at all to the science, they would never do this.”
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redrikki)
This is an informative article but I think Dr. Nelson is dead wrong that people would never tear children away from their parents if they knew the level of harm it does to the children. Many don't care, and for still others that's the whole damned point.
I used to find this flattering
Apr. 15th, 2015 03:12 pmToday a guy who is not a client but discussed a few details of his case with me called from a break in his police interrogation, saying how he was being pressured to confess an incident he hardly remembered. I gave a bog-standard answer, that he shouldn't confess to anything without speaking to a lawyer. He went back and forth on this and I listened with half an ear while playing Candy Crush. Then he admitted he'd called me to calm himself down and not for actual legal advice.
There was a time when that would have warmed my heart. I'd have been thrilled at being useful and appreciated. Instead I felt irritation that he's calling up a lawyer he never retained or paid as though I were a friend, like I'm just waiting around in the middle of the workday to soothe his fears and tell him everything's going to be all right.
I'm not sure why I no longer act like a beaten dog around perfect strangers. Maybe it's because I have better boundaries now that I've been freed from the idea that my value lies in serving and pleasing others. Maybe it's the experience of being similarly used for support and knowledge by people who don't reciprocate. Being in a stable relationship may have helped me gain actual self-respect, too. Maybe it's just a function of getting older and ornerier.
Whatever the reason or combination of reasons, I'm glad of this change. It doesn't mean I'll never be exploited again, but with these emotional signals in place I'm likelier to avoid exploitative situations or leave them.
There was a time when that would have warmed my heart. I'd have been thrilled at being useful and appreciated. Instead I felt irritation that he's calling up a lawyer he never retained or paid as though I were a friend, like I'm just waiting around in the middle of the workday to soothe his fears and tell him everything's going to be all right.
I'm not sure why I no longer act like a beaten dog around perfect strangers. Maybe it's because I have better boundaries now that I've been freed from the idea that my value lies in serving and pleasing others. Maybe it's the experience of being similarly used for support and knowledge by people who don't reciprocate. Being in a stable relationship may have helped me gain actual self-respect, too. Maybe it's just a function of getting older and ornerier.
Whatever the reason or combination of reasons, I'm glad of this change. It doesn't mean I'll never be exploited again, but with these emotional signals in place I'm likelier to avoid exploitative situations or leave them.
DID resources found on the web
Jan. 13th, 2015 12:12 pmDiscussions of abuse, trauma, and mental illness follow.
I read an article about human trafficking in Texas a couple days back when a section on the mental health issues of trafficked sex workers caught my eye. The first condition mentioned was dissociative identity disorder (DID), which makes sense because prostitutes as a group suffer high rates of child sexual abuse and incest (85% and 70% respectively in the study cited). This kind of severe and repeated abuse in childhood is a leading cause of DID, so it makes sense that prostitutes would have high instances of DID. I'm not only talking about pre-prostitution trauma, either. As stated in the linked rapeis.org page the average age of entry into prostitution is 13, meaning many sex workers are still children.
( Child abuse, rape and more below the fold )
I read an article about human trafficking in Texas a couple days back when a section on the mental health issues of trafficked sex workers caught my eye. The first condition mentioned was dissociative identity disorder (DID), which makes sense because prostitutes as a group suffer high rates of child sexual abuse and incest (85% and 70% respectively in the study cited). This kind of severe and repeated abuse in childhood is a leading cause of DID, so it makes sense that prostitutes would have high instances of DID. I'm not only talking about pre-prostitution trauma, either. As stated in the linked rapeis.org page the average age of entry into prostitution is 13, meaning many sex workers are still children.
( Child abuse, rape and more below the fold )
I guess you really are an ATLA geek if you see the title Can You Call a 9-Year-Old a Psychopath? and immediately think of Azula. The NYT article is about prepsychopathic, or callous-unemotional (C.U.), children and the research into possible treatment options. It looks like the ATLA writers really did their homework with Azula's behavior. Some interesting bits:
- L., a little girl who appears in the article, seems quite the mini-Azula herself. Enrolled in a summer camp for C.U. children (how is it a good idea to put these kids together for two months?), she snuck toys into the camp and handed them out to children who misbehaved at her command. She also played other children off each other, and Michael, the main kid featured in the article, was taken to detention screaming L.'s name.
- About 50% of C.U. children go onto become psychopathic adults, but more importantly, 50% do not. Warm, nurturing parenting has been shown to improve their behavior. The hard part is, parents sometimes find it hard to emotionally engage with C.U. children. Remember Ursa's "What is wrong with that child" moment? For all the occasional whining about Ursa somehow causing Azula's issues by favoring Zuko, I actually find Ursa's a very human reaction. Trying to connect to a child seemingly incapable of empathy is an act of patience that does not come easily.
- C.U. has a heavy genetic component (I say Azula totally got it from Ozai) and C.U. individuals' brains actually work differently. The parts responsible for empathy and moral decisions are not as active, which is not surprising. The amygdala, which processes emotions like fear and shame, is also less active. Basically the negative stimuli for bad behavior, like scolding, don't have the same effect on these kids. This would explain Azula's total indifference to Ursa's attempts at discipline, and her unusual lack of fear in situations of personal danger such as infiltrating Ba Sing Se.
Again, just because there's a genetic component doesn't mean it can't be treated. There are genetic predispositions for depression, anxiety, diabetes, cancer etc. etc., all of which are treatable. Genetics do not equal destiny.
- C.U. kids might not be much for emotional empathy, but they can grow to gain cognitive empathy: They might not feel others' emotions, but they can recognize (and manipulate) emotions. Coupled with the lack of empathy or morals, I can see how that can turn scary very quickly.
- Maybe C.U. kids will not grow up to have the same emotional motivations for morality, but they can be taught a kind of intellectual morality. I can totally see a prepsychopathic or psychopathic person acting morally if they come to see it in their own best interest, which I believe is basically the plot of the Azula Trilogy (reviewed by me here). This was something Ursa might have done for her daughter, but with her gone and Ozai's influence predominating it became a lost cause.
- L., a little girl who appears in the article, seems quite the mini-Azula herself. Enrolled in a summer camp for C.U. children (how is it a good idea to put these kids together for two months?), she snuck toys into the camp and handed them out to children who misbehaved at her command. She also played other children off each other, and Michael, the main kid featured in the article, was taken to detention screaming L.'s name.
- About 50% of C.U. children go onto become psychopathic adults, but more importantly, 50% do not. Warm, nurturing parenting has been shown to improve their behavior. The hard part is, parents sometimes find it hard to emotionally engage with C.U. children. Remember Ursa's "What is wrong with that child" moment? For all the occasional whining about Ursa somehow causing Azula's issues by favoring Zuko, I actually find Ursa's a very human reaction. Trying to connect to a child seemingly incapable of empathy is an act of patience that does not come easily.
- C.U. has a heavy genetic component (I say Azula totally got it from Ozai) and C.U. individuals' brains actually work differently. The parts responsible for empathy and moral decisions are not as active, which is not surprising. The amygdala, which processes emotions like fear and shame, is also less active. Basically the negative stimuli for bad behavior, like scolding, don't have the same effect on these kids. This would explain Azula's total indifference to Ursa's attempts at discipline, and her unusual lack of fear in situations of personal danger such as infiltrating Ba Sing Se.
Again, just because there's a genetic component doesn't mean it can't be treated. There are genetic predispositions for depression, anxiety, diabetes, cancer etc. etc., all of which are treatable. Genetics do not equal destiny.
- C.U. kids might not be much for emotional empathy, but they can grow to gain cognitive empathy: They might not feel others' emotions, but they can recognize (and manipulate) emotions. Coupled with the lack of empathy or morals, I can see how that can turn scary very quickly.
- Maybe C.U. kids will not grow up to have the same emotional motivations for morality, but they can be taught a kind of intellectual morality. I can totally see a prepsychopathic or psychopathic person acting morally if they come to see it in their own best interest, which I believe is basically the plot of the Azula Trilogy (reviewed by me here). This was something Ursa might have done for her daughter, but with her gone and Ozai's influence predominating it became a lost cause.
