Toxic Stress: Why Some Babies Develop PTSD



Narrative:
My son, a Russian adoptee, did not cry when we adopted him. At 14, he is now in a residential therapeutic school.

Plot:
When a fetus or infant senses persistent threats but no protection, stress can emerge. This month the American Academy of Pediatrics will issue a landmark warning that this stress is toxic and can harm children for life.

Story Development:

The flight from Moscow back to the U.S. was long. Over nine hours of uninterrupted air time and yet, Nick, just 5 months, barely slept, nor did he cry. It would be a week before my husband and I would learn Nick had been traveling with the painful bi-lateral ear infections that would plague him until at four he had his tonsils and adenoids removed. But on that day, at 32,000 feet in the air, we could only smile with wonder at the stoic baby we had brought into our lives. With our 3-year old daughter slumbering in the seat next to us, we felt complete.

When Nick finally slept, he slept for three months until he awoke from his nap on a muggy afternoon in mid-August. As if a switch had been turned on, Nick was now hyper-alert. Eight teeth sprouted in one week. He ate voraciously. At 14 months, he would be taking his first tentative steps. At 4.5years, he would demand the training wheels be taken off his bike. He never wobbled or asked for help.

A photo taken at our summer home in Maine late that first summer, Nick sits on my lap. He now fills out his short overalls and t-shirt, he is baby plump. In my hands I am holding Nick’s naturalization papers. My lips grazing his pale blonde hair, almost imperceptible on top of his round head. When I breathe in, his scalp smells like something that has singed, as if the internal workings of his brain were smoldering.

scene: Pre-school biting, fight on the stairs, “does not play well with others”

Structure:

Scene: Dialogue scenes to demonstrate emotional issue
Reflect on scientific context
Interviews with authority, Jack Shonkoff, Jarvard
Scene: Wilderness therapy setting
Reflect on science behind modality
Interview field therapist, Erica Thiesson
Gap btwn recognition of toxic stress and lack of therapeutic responses
Scene?
Reflect on societal implications
Interview Adam Pertman, ex director of Evan B Donaldson Adoption Institute
Scene with Nick at new school - his hopes for the futre