Knoxville — As the government is working to reunite families separating by the Trump administration's immigration policy, a Knoxville psychologist says the children involved could see negative psychological effects from separation.
"(They could be) totally feeling lost. I mean, I can't imagine," Knoxville psychologist Dr. Kathryn Perkel said.
It's a real situation for nearly 2,300 children at the Mexico-US border.
"Losing the only attachment figure they've ever known," Perkel said.
They're separated from their parents because their family tried to cross the border illegally.
Perkel says time without a stable caregiver is one of the worst situations a child can face.
"When a child is exposed to a traumatic situation like this, there can be a deregulation in the emotional processing centers," Perkel said.
She says your flight or flight response can go into hyper drive.
"And it can stay there, and affect the way that you process danger in world for the rest of your life," Perkel said. "So these are life altering changes that are happening in the brain."
She says those changes, especially for children 12 and under, affect how you make decisions later in life.
"The beliefs that you form during that time are with you forever," Perkel said. "Even as a rational adult that can know that some of the beliefs you have are irrational, there's still like a emotional part of you that still connects with some of those irrational or less helpful beliefs."
Which for these kids could be a reality.
"Even if you get reunited a day, a week later, I think forever, the reality that that could happen, is now there," Perkel said.
Perkel says we can't spare the children that have already gone through this.
But, she says she's hopeful with President Trump's executive order, that future children can avoid the situation.