‘Hood Disease’ Threatens Inner City Youths

[Spata]

Large numbers of inner-city youths suffer from a condition known as “hood disease,” a form of post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from persistent exposure to trauma, according to research cited by KPIX 5.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that nearly 30 percent of U.S. inner-city youths are affected by the disorder, which makes it difficult for them to learn, the news site says. Those who exhibit the disorder often live in virtual war zones, the CDC report says.

And so significant is the condition that doctors at Harvard recently named it “hood disease,” a term for a more complex form of PTSD, the news site reports. And since the youths rarely escape their communities—unlike soldiers who eventually leave a war zone—they are repeatedly exposed to trauma.

“You could take anyone who is experiencing the symptoms of PTSD, and the things that we are currently emphasizing in school will fall off their radar,” San Francisco State University associate professor Jeff Duncan-Andrade told KPIX 5. “Because, frankly, [schoolwork] does not matter in our biology if we don’t survive the walk home.”

Gun violence represents just part of the problem.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/cul...se_also_known_as_ptsd.html?wpisrc=mostpopular

 

[BadgeBunny]

Actually ... animals ... errr ... people ... errr ... no, I'm gonna go with the first descriptor ... who shouldn't be allowed to breed are the problem ...

Your kids should come first. You have kids all that other stuff needs to go by the wayside. Don't give me the "oh woe is me I can't get out of the projects" crap ... If I can do it anybody can ...

Yah ... I know ... I'm on a roll today ... Please feel free to tell me what a heartless ***** I am ...

 

[Cedar Creek]

I read information on the research 4 or 5 years ago and the significant findings were that many young people from disfunctional backgrounds were misdiagnosed with ADHD or hyperactivity when they actually suffered from a form of PTSD that was then termed "hypervigilance". A short description of the theory is that kids who are constantly exposed to trauma, drama, etc. are unable to concentrate or focus on academics because they are too caught up in worrying about what happened last or is going to happen next.

Cedar Creek

 

[BadgeBunny]

I read information on the research 4 or 5 years ago and the significant findings were that many young people from disfunctional backgrounds were misdiagnosed with ADHD or hyperactivity when they actually suffered from a form of PTSD that was then termed "hypervigilance". A short description of the theory is that kids who are constantly exposed to trauma, drama, etc. are unable to concentrate or focus on academics because they are too caught up in worrying about what happened last or is going to happen next.

Cedar Creek

I can see that. And yet I had at least one school principal tell me that I needed to quit my job and move back into the projects so I could spend more time with my kids ... The principal at Quail Creek Elementary School, as a matter of fact. Nothing like being there to help a parent who was doing the best she could with what she had to work with ... which was very, very little at the time ...

 

[MCVetSteve]

Actually ... animals ... errr ... people ... errr ... no, I'm gonna go with the first descriptor ... who shouldn't be allowed to breed are the problem ...

Your kids should come first. You have kids all that other stuff needs to go by the wayside. Don't give me the "oh woe is me I can't get out of the projects" crap ... If I can do it anybody can ...

Yah ... I know ... I'm on a roll today ... Please feel free to tell me what a heartless ***** I am ...

I agree completely. While I did not come up in the hood, or projects, I did unfortunately grow up in northern Florida in a trailer (read Alabama white trash.) I was not exposed to the same circumstances, I did come out of circumstances produced by a similar lack of means. Wife and I own a house now. Join the Marine Corps, travel to new places, meet new and interesting people... and kill them.

 

[RETOKSQUID]

Anyone have a link to the actual study? Have been looking at HMC and CDC with no luck, and my Google-Fu just turns up all these news stories that say there is a study, but no one actually cites one.

Know there may be some truth to it, have done a lot of research on juvenile delinquency for the last three semesters, but also know how the stuff can get blown way out of proportion.

 

[retrieverman]

I'm not going to argue there aren't some kids that have problems and may suffer from "something", but "hood disease"…REALLY?!?

 

[mtnboomer]

Large numbers of inner-city youths suffer from a condition known as “hood disease,” a form of post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from persistent exposure to trauma

Great, just what the economy needs - hundreds of thousands of inner-city teenagers applying for government disability due to PTGSS (post traumatic ghetto stress syndrome)!

 

[aeropb]

I'm not surprised. Growing up in conflict is fairly common on this planet. Brains of those who grow up in conflict must develop differently from those who grow up in leisure.

 

[Grendel]

I thought this was going to have something to do with hooded sweatshirts.