Any Medical Procedure Can Traumatize Your Child

Key points

Medical procedures emotionally overwhelm children such that they are more prone to feeling traumatized.

Because children don't know what's happening to their body and why, they invent unhealthy self-narratives.

Kids often feel there is something permanently wrong with their body following a medical intervention.

With any medical procedure—whether surgery, an MRI, or placing tubes in a child's ears—little kids don’t understand what’s happening even after it’s explained. They don’t know what’s wrong with their body, how it got that way, or how the procedure will fix things. They also can’t understand how a doctor can be both a good, trustworthy person and someone who causes pain.

To all their intellectual confusion, add a whole mess of emotions. They feel scared, small, and h