Hood Disease: Inner City Oakland Youth Suffering From Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

[lostinblue 1,989]

Hood Disease: Inner City Oakland Youth Suffering From Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

OAKLAND (KPIX 5) — In the inner city, a health problem is making it harder for young people to learn. The Centers for Disease Control said 30 percent of inner city kids suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The CDC said these children often live in virtual war zones. Doctors at Harvard said they actually suffer from a more complex form of PTSD that some call “hood disease.”

Unlike soldiers, children in the inner city never leave the combat zone. They often experience trauma, repeatedly.

“You could take anyone who is experiencing the symptoms of PTSD, and the things we are currently emphasizing in school will fall off their radar. Because frankly it does not matter in our biology if we don’t survive the walk home,” said Jeff Duncan-Andrade, Ph.D. of San Francisco State University.

In Oakland, about two thirds of the murders last year were actually clustered in East Oakland, 59 people killed.

Teachers and administrators who graduated from Fremont High School in East Oakland and have gone back to work there spoke with KPIX 5.

“These cards that (students) are suddenly wearing around their neck that say ‘Rest in peace.’ You have some kids that are walking around with six of them. Laminated cards that are tributes to their slain friends,” said teacher Jasmene Miranda.

Jaliza Collins, also a teacher at Fremont, said, “It’s depression, it’s stress, it’s withdrawal, it’s denial. It’s so many things that is encompassed and embodied in them. And when somebody pushes that one button where it can be like, ‘please go have a seat,’ and that can be the one thing that just sets them off.”

In 2013, there were 47 recorded lockdowns in Oakland public schools – again, almost all in East and West Oakland.

Students at Fremont High showed where one classmate was shot.

“If someone got shot that they knew or that they cared about…they’re going to be numb,” one student said. “If someone else in their family got shot and killed they will be sad, they will be isolated because I have been through that.”

Gun violence is only one of the traumas or stressors in concentrated areas of deep poverty.

“Its kids are unsafe, they’re not well fed,” Duncan-Andrade said. “And when you start stacking those kids of stressors on top of each other, that’s when you get these kinds of negative health outcomes that seriously disrupt school performance.”

Editor’s Note: This story is part of the Equity Reporting Project, which is a yearlong effort.

SS disability ....Lawyers having a field day

[Crashed~N2~Me 970]

Moral Decay....

[luckytxn 2,265]

True. Decisions of the parents affect the kids.

Moral Decay....

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

But guns everywhere makes people feel safe and cozy, no? That's what VJ and the NRA say.

[luckytxn 2,265]

No VJ doesn't say that or endorse guns. Never has and never will.

But guns everywhere makes people feel safe and cozy, no? That's what VJ and the NRA say.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

No VJ doesn't say that or endorse guns. Never has and never will.

Not VJ, but folks here have made that statement well known. It's been argued for years. Give everyone a gun and all will be right with the world.

Edit: Take a look at the OP's signature block. Down in red.

Edited May 17, 2014 by Su and Marvin

[luckytxn 2,265]

I am aware of that but it is individual members and not VJ. We also have members that say the opposite. Does that mean VJ says we should ban weapons?

Not VJ, but folks here have made that statement well known. It's been argued for years. Give everyone a gun and all will be right with the world.

Edit: Take a look at the OP's signature block. Down in red.

[Pooky 3,844]

But guns everywhere makes people feel safe and cozy, no? That's what VJ and the NRA say.

I'm no fan of widespread gun ownership, but even I can see that piling regulations and restrictions on legal gun owners will do little to nothing in the way of preventing gang-related gun violence.

Tackle the ongoing, every day gun violence. Knee-jerk reactions to mass shootings, when they occur, make politicians feel good about themselves, but does little to save the lives of the young kids in communities ravaged by continual gun violence.

[luckytxn 2,265]

Yes or make parents realize their actions or lack of are the cause.

I'm no fan of widespread gun ownership, but even I can see that piling regulations and restrictions on legal gun owners will do little to nothing in the way of preventing gang-related gun violence.

Tackle the ongoing, every day gun violence. Knee-jerk reactions to mass shootings, when they occur, make politicians feel good about themselves, but does little to save the lives of the young kids in communities ravaged by continual gun violence.

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

Those saying, essentially, 'blame the parents': Inner city means poor. Poor means that you rarely move out of the area you grew up in. Growing up in the inner city, as demonstrated here, means PTSD. PTSD means making decisions based on what little security you can gain. That often means staying in an unsafe area because you can no longer recognize that it's not safe, because you don't know how to operate in a safe area--look at all the problems soldiers have reacclimatizing to civilian life after war.

The parents are also suffering PTSD. The parents are also suffering from the same stressors as the children. The same stressors that keep these kids from learning keep the parents from learning how to get out and make a stable life somewhere safe. They don't know how to live somewhere else, how to stand down.

It's no more the parents' fault than it is the children's fault. The parents are so damaged, with decades of ingrained PTSD, that they can't help themselves at this point.

(Note: I am not saying that every single person who grew up poor or in the inner city has PTSD. I'm saying that the families living in the areas that produce the children in the article likely have generations of PTSD, not just the kids.)

[Crashed~N2~Me 970]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIC1ZSFJOls

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Yay, another thread bashing the poor and disadvantaged. I was getting worried since there was not an active one of these for a day or two.

[luckytxn 2,265]

Where are you seeing this bashing?

Yay, another thread bashing the poor and disadvantaged. I was getting worried since there was not an active one of these for a day or two.

[Novembro 1,763]

But guns everywhere makes people feel safe and cozy, no? That's what VJ and the NRA say.

I tuck mine into bed next to me every night. So warm and fuzzy!

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

I am aware of that but it is individual members and not VJ. We also have members that say the opposite. Does that mean VJ says we should ban weapons?

I think Harpa was pinging on the group of folks that advocate everyone over the age of 2 having a gun.