Understanding and Overcoming Childhood Trauma: Exploring the Impact, Signs, and Therapeutic Paths to Healing

Deterioration of hope and mental health is aggravated by traumas. To be resilient is an art that is necessary to be learned. 70% of the adult have experienced mental, physical, and sexual childhood traumatic events in their lives. Adverse childhood experience affects our adulthood badly, eventually inculcating psychological and cognitive disorders. Several therapies, awareness sessions, and support are essential to cope with childhood traumas and for the mitigation of long-term effects. 

Such an event in which emotional disturbances from the age of birth to six years leave a lifetime mental and physical negative impact on the child's personality is known as childhood trauma. In such conditions, people suffer from many dangerous, violent events throughout their childhood like family issues, terrorism, sudden accidents, racism, domestic violence, sexual assault, and death of close ones. Different traumatic conditions led to various issues like post-traumatic stress disorder.

There are many forms of childhood traumas, and they affect adults by disturbing them emotionally, psychologically, and mentally. Here are some examples of childhood traumas in adults.

• Trauma Survivors: Adults who endured physical, emotional, or sexual abuse as children may continue to grapple with the psychological aftermath of these traumatic experiences.
• Neglect: A sort of emptiness and lack of self-esteem observed among children who suffer emotional and physical neglect.
• Witnessing Violence: Children who observe various sorts of domestic and other violence issues in their lives feel a lack of security and safety in their afterlives, which hit their personalities by posing negative impacts on them.
• Natural Disasters: When some child experience natural disasters in their early lives, it can lead to post-traumatic stress disaster, various phobias that make them unable to cope with challenging situations.
• Bullying: Continuous bullying of a person can leave anxiety, depression, low esteem, and emotionally disturbing impacts on the personality of an adult.

Childhood traumas damage the mental and physical health of patients. Effects vary from person to person but some common physical effects of child trauma are as follows:

• Psychosomatic Issues: Psychological and mental issues led to stomach issues, headaches, and tiredness. These situations if left untreated become more chronic.
• Sleep Problems: Childhood traumas induce sleep issues like night sweats, nightmares, etc. Proper sleep is necessary for mental and physical well-being otherwise disturbance in sleep patterns leads to various issues.
• Chronic Pain & Stress: Some signs of chronic pain like back pain, and muscle tension observed in survivors of childhood traumas. These all symptoms are because of stress. Chronic stress suppresses immune function and aggravates the risk of infections. Autoimmune disorders also increase in people who suffer from such traumas.
• Gastrointestinal Issues: Childhood traumas lead to anxiety and stress, which prompt digestive issues like gastrointestinal issues, constipation, diarrhea, etc.
• Heart Problems: Trauma survivors want to forget their trauma by intake of alcohol which damages organs and prompts cardiovascular problems.
• Self-Harm and Scarring: Some people harm themselves by burning and cutting their bodies because of childhood traumas, which lead to scarring.

People who are close to such a person feel the common signs of unresolved childhood traumas in adults like anxiety, mood swings, Inability to concentrate on studies, Anti-social interactions, somatic problems, sleep disturbances, nightmares, and hypervigilance. But it’s important to consult a therapist according to your situation.

Different childhood traumas whether sexual abuse or physical or emotional disturbance leave a lifetime impact on us. Manifestation of various traumatic challenges that impact the lives of people are as follows:

• Mental Health damage: Adults who suffer from childhood traumas often damage their mental health because of depression, anxiety, and borderline personality. These situations deteriorate their relationships and daily life.
• Emotional Disturbance: One of the major effects of childhood hood trauma is emotional disturbance due to which adults experience extreme mood swings, anger issues, and emotional numbness.
• Drug Addiction: Adults are sometimes addicted to various drugs and alcohol because of their childhood suffering. Drug addiction badly damages their health.
• Relationship Intricacies: People having a background of childhood trauma are reluctant to trust others, have a fear of intimacy, and are unable to maintain their healthy relationships.
• Low Self-Esteem: Childhood traumas insert the feeling of low esteem among people and allow them to settle for unhealthy relationships.
• Fear of Abandon: Some childhood challenges deep-rooted the fear of rejection among people and allow them to engage in unhealthy relationships instead of feeling lonely.

It’s crucial to consult a professional therapist who helps you to get rid of childhood traumas. Therapies that were given to traumatic person are as follows:

• Cognitive behavioral therapy
•  Dialectical behavior therapy
•  Meditation
•  Family & play therapy
• Narrative therapy

Don’t feel shy to speak up for your childhood traumas and seek help from friends, family, and therapists. It’s crucial to consult a professional therapist who assist you in getting rid of your dull past and give you the way to a brighter future.