Is Childhood Trauma Real? What Is It?
So often I hear people make a joke about their childhood trauma and laugh it off as if it wasn’t real. When that happens, I’m reminded that children who grow up in emotionally abusive homes, or deal with bullying or other complex traumas, were also trained to disregard their own feelings. While in some cases childhood trauma is linked to things like an unexpected death, natural disaster, medical emergency, or similar other situation, in many cases it results from an unsafe environment.
Tragically, a large number of children are raised in unsafe homes and neighborhoods. Their traumatic experiences leave lasting scars on the body, buried deep in the brain.
Childhood trauma is real, with long-lasting impacts verified by study after study.
Origins of Childhood Trauma
Speaking broadly, trauma is any sufficiently stressful event or series of events that threatens a person’s sense of safety, security, or self-worth. Everyone’s capacity to endure traumatic events is different, and what is traumatizing for one person may not register as particularly scary for another.
Children are different in some ways in that they are naturally vulnerable. They rely on parents and caregivers to feed them, take care of them, and teach them how the world works.
Some of the most common causes of childhood trauma are:
Cyberbullying
Alcoholism or drug abuse in the household
Unexpected Death of a Caregiver
Emotional Abuse
Physical Abuse
Abandonment by a Caregiver
Poverty \ Malnutrition
Sexual Abuse
Chronic Medical Issues
Exposure to Violence
Physiological Impact of Trauma
When someone experiences a traumatic event, it triggers intense changes in the body. They receive a flood of stress hormones like cortisol, as well as adrenaline. Depending on severity or frequency of traumatic experiences, permanent changes take place in the brain related to memory formation and access to memories.
Many people end up ‘frozen in time’ as a result of their traumatic experiences, with their brains locked into fight-or-flight mode.
Long-Term Impacts
Numerous studies have shown that not only is Childhood Trauma real, but it heightens the risk for countless long-term impacts on mental and physical well-being, including:
Alcoholism
Dissociative Identity Disorder (More than one personality in the head.)
Depression
Anxiety
ADHD
Drug Abuse
Risk-Seeking Behavior
Sexual Promiscuity
Obesity
Self Harm (Cutting, tattoos, piercings, suicide)
There is even evidence for an increased risk of physical ailments such as heart disease and cancer. The long-term impact of stress on a child’s developing body is real and measurable, and its effects last well into adulthood.
Emotional Damage
Many children who experience trauma grow up with various lasting emotional issues. To survive the dangerous circumstances of their childhood, they become hyper-vigilant, sensitive to other people's moods, looking for ways to control or manage situations. Sometimes, they learn to shut down their emotions and feelings to avoid triggering anyone else.
Some of the ways this can be seen are as follows:
Adult Attachment Disorders (difficulty forming stable relationships)
Dissociative Behaviors \ Detachment
Feelings of Inadequacy
Shame over Sexual Abuse
Heightened Anxiety
Irritability
Deceptive Behaviors
The exact presentation of these behaviors varies widely, and this last is hardly exhaustive, but the important lesson is this: while children are vulnerable, they are also brilliant, precocious, and built to survive. The lessons they form in childhood in response to their traumatic experiences carry over into adulthood—but those survival mechanisms that served them so well as children can hold them back as adults.
Seeking Help
It is critically important to ensure that people who experience childhood trauma are able to receive the appropriate level of support and care they need to heal. Whether as children or adults, a key part of therapy addressing childhood trauma is re-establishing a sense of safety and security. Brainspotting can help with clearing the physical impact of trauma on the body.
If you have experienced childhood trauma, I would love to help provide the tools and safe space necessary to heal. Let's connect soon for you to see how trauma therapy works.