AI generated image showing healed happy young adolescents with flowers in front symbolizing healing. This blog hasn’t used real photos to protect identity of the survivors from the survivors programming at the grassroots.
Childhood abuse is not just an individual tragedy—it is a public health crisis.
Author: Sonal Kapoor, Founder CEO, Protsahan
Childhood is a formative stage in life, and the experiences a child encounters during this time lay the foundation for their mental, emotional, and physical health. However, when children are subjected to abuse—be it physical, emotional, or sexual—it leaves indelible marks that can ripple across their lifespan, affecting their well-being in profound ways. At Protsahan India Foundation, our mission to combat childhood abuse holistically through a combination of focus on healing and mainstreaming with the systems to access education, healthcare and livelihoods and provide trauma-informed care is deeply aligned with research-backed evidence on the devastating effects of childhood maltreatment if left unhealed.
The Impact on Physical Health
Scientific studies, such as those referenced in the seminal work on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), demonstrate that abuse in childhood is directly linked to long-term physical health challenges. Survivors often exhibit higher risks of chronic illnesses, including cardiovascular diseases, obesity, diabetes, and autoimmune disorders. This stems from the body’s prolonged exposure to stress, which dysregulates critical systems like immunity and metabolism. At Protsahan, our programs integrate arts-based therapies to help children process their trauma through an innovative H.E.A.R.T approach, potentially mitigating such risks early in life. In Dr. Bruce Perry’s words, “For years mental health professionals taught people that they could be psychologically healthy without social support, thats not true. What I’ve learned from talking to so many victims of traumatic events, abuse, or neglect is that after absorbing these painful experiences, the child begins to ache. A deep longing to feel needed, validated, and valued begins to take hold. As these children grow, they lack the ability to set a standard for what they deserve. And if that lack is not addressed, what often follows is a complicated, frustrating pattern of self-sabotage, violence, promiscuity, or addiction.”
Protsahan in it’s capacity building masterclasses at Hriday Dialogues, which are annual stakeholder consultations that bring together social workers, teachers, child welfare committee members, counselors and child rights lawyers, focuses on decoding the development of the brain that starts with the most basic systems (brainstem, sensory motor regions) and ends with the most complex (prefrontal cortex) to showcase how brain develops in a hierarchal manner.
The Mental Health Consequences
The psychological scars of childhood abuse can manifest as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or substance abuse in adulthood. Trauma affects the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex—key areas of the brain responsible for emotional regulation, memory, and decision-making. Understanding these neurological impacts drives Protsahan’s work to create safe, trauma-informed spaces for children. Through storytelling, art therapy, and psychosocial counseling, we build grassroots programs in partnerships with local communities and
“It’s interesting-most people think about therapy as something that involves going in and undoing what’s happened. But whatever your past experiences created in your brain, the associations exist and you can’t just delete them. You can’t get rid of the past.
Therapy is more about building new associations, making new, healthier default pathways. It is almost as if therapy is taking your two-lane dirt road and building a four-lane freeway alongside it. The old road stays, but you don’t use it much anymore. Therapy is building a better alternative, a new default. And that takes repetition, and time, honestly, it works best if someone understands how the brain changes. This is why understanding how trauma impacts our health is essential for everyone.” – Bruce D. Perry, What Happened To You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing
governments to promote healing and resilience.
Intergenerational Cycles of Trauma
Abuse doesn’t just impact the individual—it has the potential to perpetuate cycles of violence across generations. Children who grow up in abusive environments often struggle with trust and emotional expression, which can affect their relationships as adults. Protsahan works to break these cycles by empowering caregivers and parents through our grassroots interventions, ensuring that families have access to education, financial literacy, and social safety nets.
Pathways Linking Abuse to Health Outcomes
Several pathways explain how childhood abuse leads to adverse health outcomes:
Emotional Pathway: Directly affects mental health, leading to conditions such as depression and anxiety.
Behavioral Pathway: Involves engagement in risky behaviors like substance use and unhealthy lifestyle choices.
Social Pathway: Impacts the ability to form healthy relationships, increasing the risk of re-victimization.
Cognitive Pathway: Influences beliefs about health and self-worth, often leading to a negative perception of one’s overall well-being
The Role of Community and Systems in Healing
The research underlines the importance of early intervention and systemic support to protect children and aid recovery. At Protsahan, we partner with schools, child welfare committees, women support groups and community youth leaders to establish child-centric support systems. We believe in a holistic approach that addresses not only the whole child but also their ecosystem—fostering safety, healing, and growth by linkages and access to government schemes and entitlements.
One of the key takeaways from research on childhood abuse is the necessity of sustained advocacy and awareness. As Protsahan celebrates over a decade of work, we remain committed to strengthening India’s child protection ecosystem, building trauma-informed communities, and providing access to critical care and capabilities for children and their families. The social ecology of childhood and early life adversity provides a contextual framework for evaluating the long-term health consequences of early life adversity. Early life adversity also critically shapes neural circuit function during sensitive postnatal developmental periods that social workers and educators need to understand as they work on life skills with children from marginalized communities.
Childhood abuse is not just an individual tragedy—it is a public health crisis.
The ripple effects of unresolved trauma hinder not only survivors but also the social and economic potential of communities. By addressing this issue head-on, Protsahan hopes to inspire a collective movement toward healing and justice.
As the data and stories reinforce the importance of early intervention and systemic solutions, we invite stakeholders from all walks of life to join us in this mission. Together, we can ensure that every child has the opportunity to heal, thrive, and reclaim their future.
For more insights, visit the research article here.
