If you’ve scrolled through any kind of social media feed lately then you’re probably familiar with the phrase “childhood trauma.” And especially familiar with how common it is to see symptoms of that childhood trauma in adults, and how it’s affecting their life now.
Whether you’re aware of the childhood trauma you experienced as a kid or if seeing those posts was an eye-opener for you, childhood trauma IS very real. And when it comes to the manifestations of past childhood trauma in adults, the time to heal from it is NOW..
So what is childhood trauma anyway?
To put it simply, it’s any event experienced by a child that was emotionally or physically painful or distressful. These events often result in long-lasting mental and/or physical effects.
Many things can be classified as childhood trauma but here are a few common examples:
Examples of Childhood Trauma
- The death of a loved one.
- A natural disaster destroying a home.
- A car accident.
- Violence or dysfunction in your home.
- Being bullied in school.
When you really think about it, most kids will, in some way, experience trauma in their childhood. Learning how to cope with these traumatic experiences becomes just part of the child’s development. However — like any developmental process — those coping mechanisms can get delayed, rerouted, or even completely ignored.
So for some children, the ability to cope and “deal” with those traumatic experiences is a skill that never gets fully learned.
As children age, the effects of never developing the skill to cope with that trauma can then seep into almost every aspect of their adulthood.
Effects Of Childhood Trauma In Adults
The effects of childhood trauma in adults is, quite-honestly, astounding.
Everything from your behaviors, your patterns, your relationships, and your developed mechanisms to handle emotional pain can be affected by your childhood trauma.
The way your parents emotionally abused you as a child can affect how you view your worth in a romantic relationship as an adult
The way your siblings bullied you as a child can influence your lack of leadership in the workplace as an adult.
The way your family’s stress that was unloaded onto you as a child can increase your susceptibility to addiction as an adult.
No matter what the trauma was, the inability to correctly deal with that trauma will inevitably lead to unhealthy situations and life-altering problems as an adult.
Symptoms Of Childhood Trauma In Adults
The signs and symptoms of childhood trauma in adulthood is lengthy, and is also a testament to the power that childhood trauma has on adulthood.
Here are just a few symptoms and signs of childhood trauma in adults:
- Stronger than normal reactions to things.
- Reactions that seem childish.
- Chronic anxiety.
- A distaste for change.
- Mood swings that affect your day-to-day life.
- Inability to accept change.
- Low self-esteem.
- Chronic pain and illnesses.
- Lack of trust in relationships.
These symptoms listed above are pretty easy to trace back to the childhood trauma that caused it…
The chronic anxiety from the constant dysfunction in your childhood home.
The low self-esteem from the toxic emotional abuse you suffered.
The inability to accept change from losing a loved one at an early age.
The chronic pain from years and years of stored trauma building in your body.
And once you know the symptoms you have of the manifested childhood trauma in your adulthood, finding a treatment for that gets easier.
How To Treat Childhood Trauma In Adults
There are many types of talk therapy to start addressing your childhood trauma, and I encourage everyone to seek out a therapist for those needs.
From Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (a type of psychotherapy that uses awareness and cognitive responses to change their destructive patterns into positive experiences) to Prolonged Exposure Therapy (a type of behavioral cognitive therapy where a patient goes through their traumatic memories so they can rationalize them in the present day), talk therapy is something you can do to get to the root cause of the symptoms you’re experiencing.
And while some of these symptoms of childhood trauma can be treated (and cured) with things like talk therapy, other symptoms are too physical to be healed by a therapist alone.
How To Heal From Childhood Trauma As An Adult
In order to heal from your childhood trauma as an adult, and treat the physical manifestations of that trauma in your body currently, you’ll want to introduce somatic exercises into your routine.
Somatic exercises are gentle movements that connect your physical body to your emotional body, allowing you to treat the physical manifestations of pain by addressing the trauma, anxiety, and stresses that have been causing it (and adding to it over the years!).
And because this type of somatic therapy is made up of physical movements that create a connection between the psychological body and the physical body, the effects of your childhood trauma as an adult doesn’t have to include chronic or constant pain ever again.
Deep childhood trauma can show up in so many ways as adults. And talk therapy IS good to treat some of those symptoms or signs.
But when it comes to the physical pain in your body, you need to introduce a healing method that actually (and physically) releases that build up of trauma.
And that’s something that talk therapy doesn't necessarily do.
After completely healing myself from the chronic pain that kept me in bed most mornings in my twenties, I’ve created multiple programs that are allowing thousands of women to heal themselves too!
These easy-to-follow programs will heal the pain you know you have — by treating the root cause of it you never knew existed.
It’s time to give your body what it deserves — so you can live your life without pain ever again.
The symptoms and signs of Childhood trauma in adults is very real (and painful...), so come with me on a healing journey that'll take away the pain for good.
