Childhood Trauma Explained
Traumatic events at an early age can have lifelong consequences. Since a child’s brain is still developing, emotional and physical distress can result in long-term effects that will need addressing in adulthood. Trauma can affect a child’s development, attachment style, emotional regulation, and other parts of their life. If your child experiences a traumatic event, you should take care to get them professional help. If you are an adult who has had trauma as a child, trauma-focused therapy can help you heal.
What is trauma?
Trauma is defined as an emotional response to a distressing experience. Not all traumatic events are life-threatening or obvious. They can range from the globally significant, like war and genocide, to the smaller and mundane, such as fighting with a partner. The human body goes into a stress response when we perceive any sort of threat: fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. How you respond to trauma goes back to childhood experiences, and even one traumatic experience can do lasting damage. If the trauma is repetitive (as is the case with domestic abuse), it takes an even bigger toll on your relationships, mental health, and physical well-being down the line.
What causes trauma in childhood?
A child can experience trauma to themselves personally. Witnessing or experiencing physical or sexual abuse, emotional neglect, being in an accident, developing a severe illness, being bullied, homelessness, experiencing a natural disaster, and living through civil unrest are all traumatic experiences. Even overhearing arguments or growing up in a chaotic home can have lasting effects. When a child cannot feel safe and secure in their own home, they’re likely going through a traumatic experience.
Children can also be affected by their parent or guardian’s trauma. Because they’re entirely dependent on adults to care for them, if their main caregiver cannot meet their needs this could lead to trauma. Their parent could be chronically ill, addicted to substances, stuck in a cycle of poverty, go to prison, or die. All these situations cause trauma to the child by way of an inability to form a secure, safe attachment to the adult responsible for them.
The effects of trauma
A child with trauma can experience child-traumatic stress. This is a stress response that repeats when the child is reminded of the trauma in some way. The symptoms of child traumatic stress are:
anxiety
depression
difficulty in school
behavioral changes
difficulty paying attention
nightmares
changes in eating habits
regression
physical symptoms, like headaches and pains
For adults, untreated trauma can progress into mental illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Symptoms of PTSD include:
flashbacks
nightmares
avoidant behaviors
memory issues
substance abuse
lack of emotional regulation
anxiety and depression
difficulty maintaining relationships
My child has trauma, what should I do?
The most important thing you can do when helping a child overcome their trauma is to provide them with a safe, secure environment. Chaos makes children much more anxious and showing your child that you’re a steady force to be trusted will go a long way to ensuring they heal. Make extra time for verbal and physical reassurance that you’re there for them. Encourage them to engage in healthy coping mechanisms, such as making art, playing music, or exercising outside. Model this behavior for them by redirecting your stress into healthy, self-soothing activities. Also, know that you’re not the only person they should talk to. Get them to a child therapist who can help them process their trauma more fully.
How do I heal my own childhood trauma?
When you’ve lived with trauma for so long, your thought and behavioral patterns will need changing. A therapist who specializes in trauma-focused therapies will help you examine the roots of your childhood trauma, how it’s affected your life, and the positive changes you can make to heal.
To learn more about how therapy can help you or your child overcome trauma, please reach out to us.
