In reviewing the Harry Potter series, I thought it was important to share with you not just my personal views as an experienced educator, but the views of an expert in the field, my dear friend, Dr. J. She also just happens to be a huge Harry Potter fan.
Dr. J. is a clinical and school psychologist with more than ten years of experience working with children, teens and families who have experienced psychological trauma. She has worked in numerous settings including schools, residential treatment centers and hospitals. She is an avid reader of all kinds of books and uses them liberally in her practice and treatment of children, teens and families.
Here is what she has to say on the matter:
You may wonder why do “experts” make such a big deal about the content of books, movies and other media? Often we think to ourselves, “I saw/read/heard X when I was a kid and I’m fine. People are way too sensitive.” Sometimes we think that violence, sex and “bad behavior” are such an overwhelming part of our world now and to avoid exposing children to it in media of all kinds is setting them up to be unprepared for the “real world.” Finally, in the end, it’s just a book/movie/song/television show, so how much impact can it really have?
The truth is media and media content can have a major impact on young people’s emotional state. Many factors come together in these cases so it is impossible to always accurately predict what media will have an impact and what won’t for each individual. However, with more information, both about the individual and about the general impact of media, we can be better prepared to make decisions regarding media consumption by our children and students.
Why is it important not to make assumptions about young people’s backgrounds? Let me offer you a few statistics to get us started:
- By the age of 18, 1 in 4 young women and 1 in 6 young men will have experienced unwanted sexual contact. This can range from full on assault to exposure to pornography and everything in between. Do that math on that one for a moment…. it’s pretty overwhelming.
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2005). Adverse Childhood Experiences Study: Data and Statistics. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Retrieved January 12, 2009 from: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/ace/prevalence.htm) - Each year an estimated 3.3 million children are exposed to violence against their mothers or female caretakers by family members. (American Psychological Association, Violence and the Family: Report of the APA Presidential Task Force on Violence and the Family,1996)
- 26% of children in the United States will witness or experience a traumatic event before they turn four. (National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention, “Childhood Trauma and Its Effect on Healthy Development,” July 2012 (http://sshs.promoteprevent.org/sites/default/files/trauma_brief_in_final.pdf))
- Among 536 elementary and middle school children surveyed in an inner city community, 30% had witnessed a stabbing and 26% had witnessed a shooting. (“Building Resilience in Children and Youth Dealing with Trauma,” Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (http://www.samhsa.gov/children/trauma_resilience.asp)
Why do I share these somewhat depressing statistics with you? Mainly for the reminder that we can never know what is happening for another person unless they tell us and therefore, we can’t know how a piece of media will impact another person. Just based on statistics alone, many books, movies and other media could potentially “trigger” a trauma response in a number of young people.
What is a trauma? What is a trauma response?
By definition, a traumatic event is one that leaves the person experiencing it feeling helpless, and afraid for bodily injury or death. These events could be a car accident, a sexual assault or a hurricane. All humans are conditioned to have a “fight, flight or freeze” response to a surprising or scary event. Those who have not experienced a trauma will have a normative response to danger. Sometimes people who have experienced a trauma or traumas will have a “trauma” response to danger. Let me offer an example to explain.
Normative Response To Danger (Mrs. N’s note – this is what most people experience):
Think of it this way: you are walking in the woods on a nice, sunny day. When you look down, you see a snake at your feet. What happens to you? Maybe you jump and catch your breath, maybe scream. Your heart starts to beat faster, you may get sweaty or start to breathe faster. These are all responses by your nervous system to a perceived threat. It is your body getting ready to fight, run or freeze, depending on how your brain assesses the threat. Essentially, in that moment your body shuts down all functions that would not help you survive. You won’t feel hungry or need to pee in that moment but you will have the adrenaline needed to move with speed and strength.
When you look down again, you see that what you thought was a snake is actually a stick. Your breathing slows, your heart gets back to its regular rhythm and you start to breathe more deeply. You can sort of laugh it off and move on with your hike.
Trauma Response to Danger:
What if, however, you were Indiana Jones and had found yourself in a snake pit at some point in your life, trapped for hours with snakes all around you while you feared for both your body and your life? Then, you might have more trouble moving on from seeing what you thought was a snake. Your heart rate may remain elevated and you may experience other signs of the fight, flight or freeze response. Later that night, you may have trouble sleeping because when you close your eyes to try, you may see the snakes all around you, smell the dirt and dry air and feel as though the snakes are slithering around you, even though you are safely in your bed. Weeks later, you may find yourself avoiding hikes in the woods and finding it difficult to even walk between a few lone trees or you may feel your heart rate elevate when you see a picture of a snake or if you catch the scent of dirt. You may even have a flashback and experience in the present moment what you experienced in the past.
This second example is one of a trauma response. It is when a person experiences intrusive thoughts and experiences of the original trauma(s). Over time, this impacts people both emotionally and physically. It is important to note that not everyone exposed to a traumatic event or events will then go on to have an on-going traumatic response. There are many factors that can help to predict who might be more vulnerable than others but there is no guarantee. If this is an area that interests you, please look into the research surrounding resiliency in children as well as looking at the Adverse Childhood Events (ACE) Study conduced by the CDC and Kaiser Permanente’s Health Appraisal Clinic in San Diego. (http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy/)
Teachers and librarians – pay special attention!
As trauma responses are invisible to most and mainly internal for those experiencing them, it can be hard to know who is struggling with them. As with most mental health related disorders, there can be a great deal of shame around the experiences, particularly if the young person has suffered abuse or maltreatment. Because it is impossible to know for sure who has experienced what, it is important to review the content of media given to young people so that you can inform them about what they will be reading so they can choose to read it or not, based on their own experiences and reactions.
All Readers Filter Books Through Their Own Set of Experiences
We all filter what we read, see, hear and otherwise take in through our own experiences. I may pick up The Hunger Games and read it without incident while another person who has experienced interpersonal violence may read it and have flashbacks, nightmares or other adverse reactions.
Therefore, if a student picks up a book such as The Graveyard Book and reads the first scene wherein (spoiler alert!) a family is killed by a murderer, the student may find that to be a trigger. We don’t know, since we don’t know each student’s history. Therefore, better to have a way to explain the content before we recommend a book.
The books in the Harry Potter series contain graphic descriptions of the characters experiencing feelings of horror, terror, fear and helplessness. For example, when Harry faces Voldemort at the end of book one, he is experiencing terror, fear for his life, helplessness and confusion at the hands of a trusted teacher. Most children are taught that the adults in the institutions in their lives are trustworthy. It is one reason that children are more easily harmed than adults; they naturally trust the grown ups to do the correct thing. Harry must fight an adult he trusted or else he will be harmed. For any child this might be hard to process. When a child who has experienced harm at the hands of a trusted adult reads it, he or she may experience any number of the reactions listed above as well as feel that no adults can be trusted. After all, if it’s written in a book, it is given more weight. Other examples include Harry’s interactions with the Dursleys, with Draco and his father and the number of times throughout the series when he is faced with Voldemort and his army. Reading about these can potentially trigger the same feelings in readers who have experienced adverse events in their lives.
What if you couldn’t skim read or skip past something?
Along with managing the emotional content and reaction to the media given to them, most children (both those who have experienced trauma and those who have not) are at different developmental levels in terms of understanding and managing information. Generally speaking, children and young people are at different levels of understanding than adults. While an adult may be able to skim past parts of books that are uncomfortable for them and still understand the plot and themes, children and young people often don’t read as easily and may find themselves “stuck” in these emotionally disturbing areas. They may not be able to simply “blip” past them and move forward in the book, leaving them with emotions that are uncomfortable and difficult to tolerate. This is true for both children who have experienced adverse events and children who haven’t. Just because a young person has led a trauma-free life, does not mean they are developmentally ready to read graphic violence, see violent movies or hear music with aggressive lyrics. It is of utmost importance to consider the child in front of you and his/her developmental level as well as his/her personal experiences when you are recommending books.
Can a book give anyone nightmares? It depends on the child!
Additionally, readers who are not yet developmentally able to understand or process the emotional and, frankly, often disturbing content or implied action, may also find themselves experiencing what looks like a trauma response- nightmares, “stuck” thoughts and overwhelming emotions. The difference may be in how long these reactions sustain over time. Often students who have not experienced trauma struggle to understand concepts such as racism, genocide and abuse of power by institutions or leaders. The Harry Potter series has numerous examples of this content throughout all seven books and readers may be learning about and processing these mature concepts for the first time when reading them. Think about how horrified you probably felt the first time you learned about an understood the Nazi holocaust or the genocide in Cambodia, Rwanda or Bosnia or other places around the world. It is likely that children reading Harry Potter are encountering these ideas for the first time. Now imagine if you were young or, worse, if you were young and had experienced maltreatment at the hands of adults. You might feel as though there was no safe place in the world for you, no one to trust or turn to for help.
Obviously, not all readers would have this reaction which is why you must think about the child in front of you when you are recommending or approving books and other media. How might THIS content impact THIS child? Will he/she need extra support to process the content? Would he/she be better served by waiting to tackle the book? Would this reader be able to read the content and access support if needed? It is so important, as the trusted adults in our children’s lives, to take that trust seriously and to really consider what we know about each child as we guide them through their media consumption.
I am very grateful to Dr. J for sharing her expertise here. She’s a frequent reader of this blog so feel free to ask any questions you might have for her in the comments.
Upcoming Posts from Dr. J
Signs a Child is Struggling with a Book’s Content
Bibliotherapy – The Positive Side of Books That Cover Difficult Topics
