- Reluctance to acknowledge responsibility:
Government Accountability: Admitting the role of social, economic, policies and institutional failures in the development of poor health outcomes is uncomfortable, politically sensitive and unpopular. Governments and institutions may hesitate to confront the harsh reality that they play a role in creating environments that fail children and families. Accepting responsibility implies the need for structural changes, which are often complex and politically difficult. It is easier to say, we pay for the negative outcome and we don’t want to regulate to far inside families, but take tax money from working people to fix the negative outcomes. - Blame ->Avoidance:
Many people, including policymakers, struggle with the emotional discomfort of recognizing that parents, communities, and systems may be responsible for a child’s suffering. This discomfort is heightened by the deeply ingrained belief that parents are the natural protectors of their children. They know what is best for their child. But there is a difference in knowing and believing! There is also a strong connection to blame, dealing with errors. It is not about blaming, because blaming is the inability to take responsibility for ones actions. This happens if people don’t learn how to deal with mistakes! So blaming is a negative “coping” mechanism. - Financial constraints and Budget prioritization
Immediate vs. long-term gains: Preventative measures often require upfront investment with benefits that are only realized in the long term, making it difficult to justify them in budgets NOW which are focused on immediate needs of governments. Also the hope/whish: “Maybe it does not effect me.” Plays a role.
For example: Smoking people know how bad it is, but they hope they are the x% of people who will not have an effect. Or they think we all have to die eventually…..
Budget Planing: Many people have not learned what things are really necessary for a long life with well-being. If my ancestors did not have food and they suffered from it, then food will be my top priority even if it is too much for me!
If my family couldn’t afford nice, shiny, and new things, I might feel deprived of those experiences. For example, I really wanted a beautiful red bicycle but never got it. As a result, I might go to the opposite extreme with my child, buying them everything they desire—even if it means going into debt—because I want them to have what I missed out on. This desire to provide for my child could stem from my own experiences of wanting and not receiving, leading me to overcompensate in my parenting.
Let alone, that the child doesn’t need all of it. So not only did many not learn how to prioritize their budget but their own past plays a huge role in unnecessary spending of budget. Also if their needs, physical and mental health never played an important role, then they will not think it is important to invest in it as specially not in a preventative way. - Probability is on my side
Humans often excel at pushing negative effects aside, and while hope is a crucial component of well-being, it can also have detrimental consequences when it leads us to believe that the odds are in our favor. This misplaced optimism can cause us to ignore potential risks or underlying issues, ultimately hindering our ability to address problems effectively and leading to greater disappointment when reality fails to meet our hopeful expectations. - Cultural and Societal Norms
Acceptance of Traditional Roles: Societal norms can hinder the acceptance of external interventions and support systems.
Resistance to Change: Cultural resistance to altering established practices and beliefs about parenting and family can impede the implementation of preventative strategies. - Psychological Barriers to Acceptance
Denial and Minimization: Both individuals and institutions may deny or minimize the prevalence and severity of the impact of transgenerational, prenatal, birth and early childhoodand their impacts of a humans life long health. Making it difficult to invest in preventative measures. They serve as coping strategies because they allow individuals to temporarily avoid facing the uncomfortable truths or potential stressors. By downplaying risks or denying the likelihood of negative outcomes, people can protect themselves from anxiety and emotional distress, providing a sense of relief in the short term. This avoidance can create a false sense of security, enabling them to function without confronting the full reality of their situation, even if it ultimately prevents them from adequately preparing for or addressing future challenges. Of course we also have to say that it is necessary to prioritize “dangers” because again otherwise our amygdala is constantly on alert which is also bad for us.
Fear of Confronting Past Failures: Acknowledging the role society, parents or government have played in contributing to bad health outcomes can be uncomfortable and lead to defensiveness, reducing willingness to engage in preventative efforts. - Lack of Expertise and Knowledge on Implementation
Uncertainty on Best Practices: There may be uncertainty or lack of consensus on the most effective preventative strategies, leading to hesitation in committing resources. Often people do say: “I whish I had known this before.” - Profit Motives: Economic incentives can sometimes prioritize reactive measures—such as treatment and intervention—over preventative strategies, particularly in sectors driven by profit rather than the public good. For instance, those who profit from medication, run hospitals, or work as doctors, psychologists, or psychotherapists, have non profit institutions etc. may unconsciously resist preventive approaches because they could perceive them as a threat to their income. This is not to suggest that these professionals wish for others to suffer; rather, it highlights the complexity of a system where financial interests can influence the emphasis placed on treatment rather than prevention, despite the fact that prevention ultimately reduces overall costs and resource needs. We will also never reach everyone. We will never be able to hinder anykind of illness, conflict, long term effects, so the worry of not getting enough, loosing their job is excessive.
- Impact on Individuals with such effects from their own chidhood
Dependency and Lack of Support: What we must not forget is, that a huge amount of people have had adverse prenatal and early childhood experiences and live with the outcome nower days. These Individuals may have been overly dependent on their parents during childhood and are now struggling to cope without adequate support, worsening the difficulty in addressing their needs. They were not able to help themselves and their parents did not help them either! More on how these individuals may feel you can read in my Blog article The walls around our hearts. - Emotional and Moral Challenges
Confronting Painful Realities: Investing in prevention means confronting uncomfortable truths about failures and individual suffering, which can be emotionally challenging and morally challenging for many. As a young child, you are completely dependent on your parents to meet your needs. If they didn’t provide what you needed emotionally or physically, you may still find yourself deeply attached to them, even into adulthood. There’s often a strange sense of protectiveness toward them, because admitting that they fell short would be too painful to face. Additionally, you were raised to respect and appreciate your parents for “doing everything” (most of the time its food, clothes and shelter…) for you, which can make it even harder to acknowledge their shortcomings. - Fragmented Systems and Lack of Coordination
Disjointed Efforts: Efforts to prevent negative outcomes are often fragmented across different agencies and organizations, leading to inefficiencies and gaps in service provision. But also huge costs. If at organisatio A there are 15 people who are helped and organization B helps 20 more people but you need 5 who organized it then the costs are unneccesary high. Often they don’t even know about each other because so many different ones are involved.
Also, often the people thinks their way is the only right one not wanting to work together. But no human is the same, so we need diverse methods to support people and we need to work interdisciplinary more together to get the whole picture and help holistically.
Maria Montessori, Leonardo da Vinci, Marie Curie, Nikola Tesla, Isac Newton,…. Are great examples of people who looked across sciences and had open minds and through that had a huge sucess/progerss. - Coordination Challenges: Effective prevention requires seamless coordination between various stakeholders, which is often difficult to achieve in practice. The government pays many different agencies, organizations etc. on the other hand experts in a field who are not connected with a university or organization might have great input and sucess, but is overlooked.
Conclusion
While we have alot of prove and statistics such as the ACE Study which provides invaluable insights wat profound impacts only birth -18 year of age already has, translating these findings into preventative action involves overcoming significant societal and governmental barriers.
Healing and preventing transgenerational and early childhood adverse experiences might seem like a huge mountain to overcome, but it is definately worth it.
Everyoneon reading this can take a step towards a goal of preventative measures, buy simply educationg everyone who have contact with. We have to start investing more in prevention, otherwise health problems, environemntal problems, conflicts etc will become more and more.
But how do we do that? How can we help other overcome one or more of these 12 points?
Well this is the question I ask my students in class, I ask myself, my colleagues. Connecting us is definately a way. I am also thinking of creating a network of people who truely want to change something. I even have a name the nurtured well initiative. So if you want to learn more about it contact me via e-mail.
I am also happy to collect ideas of how we can overcome the hurdle. Please write your ideas in the comments! Share this article and spread the word…
