Psychiatrist advises safe, secure environment for mental stability
Published:Saturday | May 20, 2023 | 12:05 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
DR EARL Wright, a consultant psychiatrist, is advising parents to ensure that their child is raised in a safe and secure environment to forestall the development of mental health issues and personality disorders.
Further, he explained that this situation holds true for pregnant women, who must also ensure that they manage their stress levels as this could impact the mental health of their child.
Wright, who specialises in stress management, treatment of depression and anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorders, Alzheimer’s and life change management, was speaking on Wednesday during a RJRGLEANER Communications Group mental health awareness talk.
He stated that an early stressful life would impact one’s mental health because the brain would not develop properly if a child did not receive all the support needed from infancy.
Wright stated that as a child’s personality begins to develop during the first six years of life, the experiences they receive during this time should be a pleasant one.
“If you have a child and you don’t hug that child, if you don’t give that child love, if the child experiences any type of abuse ... that child is going to look at the world differently, [going to] see the world as a hostile place and, therefore, react in a hostile way,” he said.
He bemoaned the high rates of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in Jamaica, which included instances of abuse, neglect, exposure to violence, and sexual content. These ACEs cause problems for children’s mental health since the developing brain has to adjust to the kind of dysfunctional society it lives in.
Wright said that children who were not taught how to control their emotions by the age of three, or if they were a victim of any of the ACEs, this would cause over 40 per cent of them to develop personality disorders.
Following his presentation Wright, in a follow-up interview with The Gleaner, stated that because of our genes some individuals would be more vulnerable than others to the damaging effects of stress.
“The environment in the womb is going to affect how the brain is developing and the brain, directly, is what produces our mental health,” he said, adding that if the mother is producing stress hormones the child will develop differently than a mother who is stress-free.
In his presentation, Wright further stated that “maternal stress during pregnancy has been linked to 50 per cent higher risks of miscarriage also associated with lower birth rate, and increased incidents or premature birth, both risk factors for infant mortality”.
If stress became a chronic condition, it would start to affect an individual’s memory.
Wright informed The Gleaner that even if an individual has a gene for depression, for example, this did not mean that the individual would become depressed.
“What happens is that the gene becomes turned on with the environment ... the circumstances are there then the depression gene will be turned on or the schizophrenic gene, if you smoke marijuana, then you become susceptible to becoming psychotic because of [this],” he said.
He described stress as the deterioration and damage of the body’s experience as a result of our environment. He went on to say that if stress is not appropriately managed those individuals with cardiovascular issues would develop stroke, heart attack and hypertension. Others would experience conditions such as increased sensitivity like sinusitis, influenza, diarrhoea, obesity, diabetes, arthritis, tension headaches and migraines.
“We are not going to reduce the stressors, the violence, the lack of productivity in Jamaica unless we tackle adverse childhood events,” he said.