How Does Childhood Trauma Affect Your Adulthood?

“It’s just a phase,” or “They’ll grow out of it eventually,”  are phrases that you might have heard before. Unfortunately, people sometimes use this mentality to explain away childhood behaviors that could signal the need for support. If you are landing on this page, maybe you were one of these kiddos who was dismissed and overlooked. Or maybe you experienced some other type of harm. Whatever happened to the little you, it may seem like something about the past continues to haunt you today.

If you are an adult struggling with the weight of a less than perfect childhood, I see you. I want to assure you that you aren’t “crazy” and it’s not weird that you still aren’t “over it”. When it comes to childhood trauma, the effects often go on to impact adulthood if you don’t receive the right support.

What Exactly is Childhood Trauma?

In the last decade, the psychology field has become much more aware of trauma and its potential impact on our nervous systems. Combine this with social media expansion, and clinical terms like “triggered” and “trauma” are becoming more mainstream. So, you have probably heard of childhood trauma or perhaps even used it to describe your own experiences. But, what exactly does it mean?

The truth is that we all experience some type of trauma in our lives, on varying levels. According to the American Psychological Association, trauma is “an emotional response to a terrible event”. As humans in a world that often feels like it is on fire, we have all come face-to-face with our own terrible events, which likely resulted in an emotional response. However, not everyone necessarily becomes traumatized  by trauma.

Whether or not we become traumatized by a stressful event depends on different factors – the severity of the event, coping abilities, social support, and genetic predisposition, to name a few. But, the short answer is that we become traumatized by our trauma when our nervous system is not able to come to a resolution after experiencing a threat. 

How Does Childhood Trauma Affect Your Adulthood?

Our nervous systems are wired to keep us safe. One of its main jobs is to react to potential threats and return the body to a state of relaxed alertness once the threat has passed. Sometimes, however, the nervous system is not able to register that the threat is no longer there. This can lead to storage of trauma in the body and threat response reactions long after the traumatic event has passed. 

When we’re kids, we are more susceptible to being traumatized because we don’t have as many coping skills, our developing nervous systems are easier to imprint on, and we literally rely on others to protect us and keep us safe. 

If you experienced traumatization when you were a kid, chances are that it still impacts you today. Our bodies don’t forget danger easily, even if you were too young to form a cohesive, cognitive memory of what happened. Some signs that you could have unresolved childhood trauma include:

• Chronic shame or guilt

• Difficulty regulating emotions

• Often overly alert or on edge

• Relationship problems

• Chronic Illness

• Unhealthy coping skills such as substance abuse or eating disorders

• Feeling you are responsible for or that you should have stopped the abuse or neglect you experienced as a child

Overcoming Childhood Trauma as an Adult

Now that you understand how childhood trauma can affect your adulthood, you might be wondering, “Is healing childhood trauma even possible?”. The good news is that the answer is a resounding, “Yes!!!”. 

Now, I am not going to lie – healing childhood trauma is tough sh**. But, it is possible. I know that it is because as a trauma therapist, I help people walk through recovery everyday. Heck, I’ve done my own share of overcoming childhood trauma (and continue to do so at times). So, I can assure you that you are not bad, dramatic, or weird if what happened in your childhood still seems to have a grip on you in adulthood. In fact, you are in good company.

When it comes to treatment, there are multiple types of therapies for trauma that are available. In our post COVID world, many of these methods have even been adapted for use via telehealth. In this day and age, there are a lot of options for care. While this is great in terms of accessibility, looking for a trauma therapist and making sure you get the right kind of support can feel overwhelming. To help clear some things up, let’s break down some popular therapies for trauma.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

EMDR has gained a lot of popularity among the trauma treatment world in the last decade. This approach help

s the brain re-process traumatic memories using bilateral stimulation (usually through eye movements or tapping). This helps to reduce distress in response to the traumatic memory. If you are thinking about EMDR for childhood trauma, make sure you get a trauma therapist who specializes in EMDR for childhood trauma. Otherwise, it might not be as impactful.

Brainspotting

Brainspotting is kind of like EMDR’s cousin. Like EMDR, brainspotting is also a brain-based approach. If you choose a trauma therapist who utilizes brainspotting, they will have you process trauma while your eyes are fixed towards a specific spot. This activates the area of your brain that stores the trauma, allowing you to reprocess it. 

Internal Family Systems (IFS)

IFS breaks down complicated issues and emotions by exploring each person’s experience through different “parts”. This approach can be really helpful for people who struggle with complex PTSD or are interested in overcoming childhood trauma. As a trauma therapist with an IFS-informed practice, parts work is one of my favorite methods to help clients navigate the journey of healing childhood trauma.

Somatic Therapy

Somatic therapy focuses on the mind-body connection to assist in releasing trauma and stress stored in the body and re-establish a sense of safety through embodiment. As a somatically trained therapist, I have seen somatic therapy act as a transformative tool in the therapeutic process. This is another one of my favorites for working with those healing childhood trauma and also for people who have not benefitted from traditional talk therapy.

What to do Next

If any of this resonated with you or you feel like you could benefit from therapy to support you in healing childhood trauma, there is help out there! Not every therapist specializes in treating childhood trauma, so it is important to find someone who understands and has training in approaches that will be helpful with your specific struggles.

As an eating disorder recovery specialist, I see a lot of clients struggling with issues related to childhood trauma. This is why I offer trauma-informed services and have sought out specialized training in Somatic Experiencing. If you are looking for a therapist who is trained in therapies for trauma recovery, I’m your girl. You can reach out to schedule a free consultation call with the button below to find out if we could be a good match.

Get therapy for childhood trauma today