Roots of Violence

Paper Summary:

This paper explores "Ghosts from the Nursery: Tracing the Roots of Violence," by Robin Karr-Morse and Meredith S. Wiley, which applies modern brain research to the role that early developmental processes play in later social and emotional development and actions. The author of the paper discusses how the disconnect between lower and upper brain functioning that Karr-Morse and Wiley's work outlines as the basis for impulsive disorders, explains tendencies such as rage expression, blackout, and self-harm in some impulsive individuals. The paper concludes that an education system that better responds to the pre-nursery school stages of development would seem logical, in order to better understand and correct juvenile delinquency.

From the Paper:

"Additionally the overview offered by this article leads the reader to conclude that the major emphasis in psychological treatment of behavior disorders focusing on cognitive treatment may be a futile experiment and that the lower levels of brain function need to be the focus. (p. 45) The emphasis of this work is that lower brain levels are at work when imbalances in brain chemicals, under or over stimulation of the brain result in impulsive disabilities and without treatment of these areas, likely chemically and a greater understanding of the defects, these people will grow to become future impulsive individuals, with an inability to connect the upper thoughts with base responses to stressors."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Karr-Morse, R. and Wiley, M.S. (1997). Ghosts from the Nursery: Tracing the Roots of Violence. New York.
• Neenan, M., & Dryden, W. (2004). Cognitive Therapy: 100 Key Points. New York: Brunner-Routledge.
• Painter, S. G., & Howell, C. C. (1999). Rage and Women's Sexuality after Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Phenomenological Study. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, 35(1), 5.
• Shelton, T. L., Barkley, R. A., Crosswait, C., Moorehouse, M., Fletcher, K., Barrett, S., et al. (1998). Psychiatric and Psychological Morbidity as a Function of Adaptive Disability in Preschool Children with Aggressive and Hyperactive-Impulsive Inattentive Behavior. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 26(6), 475.
• Therapy on the NHS? What a Crazy Waste of [Pounds Sterling]600million! as the Government Promotes Cognitive Behavioural Therapy as the Panacea for All Mental Ills, a Psychologist Gives His Scornful Response GoodHealth. (2006, October 24). The Daily Mail (London, England), p. 57.

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