00:00Children who experience physical, cognitive, or emotional neglect,
00:04say because their mother was sick and their father was busy,
00:08often face anxiety.
00:10As a result, their body produces stress hormones.
00:13If this happens a lot,
00:15these hormones become toxic for their developing brain,
00:18which then later can repress emotional and cognitive well-being for life.
00:25The real story of Daniel Rukarianu,
00:28who spent part of his early childhood in a Romanian orphanage,
00:31shows the full impact neglect can have.
00:40The story began in 1966,
00:42when Romania's then leader, Nicolae Ceaușescu,
00:46wanted to make his country a world powerhouse
00:49and came up with laws to increase the country's population.
00:52Abortion and contraception were declared mostly illegal.
00:56While the law led to a rapid rise in birth rates,
00:59many of the poorer families were unable to take care of all their children,
01:04and Daniel and around half a million others
01:06were sent to state-run institutions.
01:11In most orphanages, there were no toys,
01:14no books, or anything else to stimulate cognitive development.
01:18Many kids just stared at the bare ceilings,
01:21waiting for their next meal.
01:23Due to the lack of human contact,
01:25some babies developed strategies for self-stimulation,
01:28such as rocking back and forth.
01:33The cognitive neglect often led to lower IQ scores,
01:37delayed language development, and a lack of creative thinking.
01:41This happens because our brains build connections
01:44with every new experience and stimulation.
01:47If there are no rich experiences during the first years of life,
01:51the period in which the brain develops the fastest,
01:54children cannot build the foundations necessary for optimal future learning.
01:59They miss out for life.
02:03Daniel lived with over 400 other children,
02:07and their shared bedrooms were hardly ever cleaned.
02:10The meals were mostly tiny portions of boiled cabbage,
02:13which the staff would sometimes steal to eat themselves.
02:17Some supervisors used violence to control the orphans.
02:21Others encouraged the older kids to beat Daniel,
02:24to humiliate him and exercise authority.
02:29The consequences of physical neglect and lack of basic nutrients
02:33caused most orphans to suffer from stunted growth.
02:36Some children contracted HIV and hepatitis B
02:40as a result of the reusing of medical supplies.
02:43The physical abuse caused severe bruising and other injuries.
02:50The overworked and undertrained staff
02:52hardly ever soothed the crying children.
02:55In fact, they barely spent any time with Daniel at all.
02:59Some children were left completely alone with their worries.
03:02Others hid their feelings from the very people who ought to protect them,
03:06since they feared being hurt.
03:10Emotional neglect and anxiety lead to an excessive production
03:14of the stress hormones known as adrenaline and cortisol,
03:18which is like poison for the developing brain.
03:21But the experience also distorted the children's understanding
03:24of love and human relationships.
03:27They learned to trust nobody,
03:29and as adults, often suffered from depression, insomnia and social anxiety.
03:37When Ceausescu's regime was eventually overthrown
03:40and the conditions inside the orphanage were shown on television,
03:43researchers from around the world came to examine the nameless children.
03:48MRI scans later showed that some had smaller volumes of brain mass.
03:53The resulting research made a strong case
03:55that not only is nutrition vital to a child's development,
03:59but so is human contact.
04:01To help the children, a large number were adopted into foreign families.
04:08But even after being adopted,
04:10many had problems forming loving bonds to their new parents.
04:14This aligns with the attachment theory
04:16and the notion that a child needs to establish a loving relationship
04:20with at least one primary caregiver early in life.
04:24Daniel was quite lucky with his family.
04:27While he continued to experience trauma and anxiety,
04:30he went on to have a university education,
04:33started a family of his own,
04:35and later he founded a non-profit organization for neglected children.
04:42If you grew up in a loving environment,
04:45count yourself really, really lucky.
04:48If you experienced forms of neglect,
04:50try to internalize the idea that it was never your fault,
04:54and maybe not even your parents' fault either.
04:57To read what we think can be done if you have ever experienced neglect,
05:02read the descriptions below.
05:04One way is to share your thoughts about neglect
05:07and how you think it affects you today.
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