THUNAIChildhood trauma impacts various aspects of our biology, cognition, behaviour and relationships. Please be assured that you or your loved one can heal from these impacts, reversing the neurobiological and physiological impacts.
We summarise some of the key impacts for each area.
Brain development and health:
People that have experienced complex childhood trauma often have multiple diagnoses.
Not identifying and acknowledging a person’s trauma puts them at risk of pathologizing their experiences and traumatization all over again (re-traumatize).
The greater the severity and duration of childhood trauma `the more severe are the psychological and physical health consequences’ (Middleton W., in Blue Knot Foundation, 2012).
Physical Health:
New understandings in neuroscience show that ongoing stress or trauma affects the structure and function of the developing brain. It also affects it chemically, releasing stress hormones over time.
High levels of stress hormones can create inflammation. Inflammation can in turn create disease. Child abuse survivors are at increased risk of illness, hospitalisations, surgery and accidents.
Cognitive function:
High levels of stress changes the level of activation in the brain. This can vary from hyper-arousal to hypo-arousal, repeatedly, over time. These variations can impact on thinking, concentration, focus and memory. They can also be associated with dissociation.
It is important for the right and left brain to work together. Childhood trauma can interrupt the connection between left and right brain processes.
Behaviour:
One of the symptoms of childhood trauma includes “hyper-vigilance” -this means the survivors are in a constant state of high alert. They often also live in fear; they are anxious about what will happen next. This ‘normal’ response to ongoing threats can make some of their behaviour challenging.
For example, Some are diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), truancy and aggression.
Coping strategies that people engage in are at first protective, however they can also threaten an adult’s emotional and physical health. For example, living in a state of hyper-vigilance is experienced as ongoing anxiety, insomnia or difficulty relaxing. This can be exhausting.
An important point here is to not disregard these behaviours as maladaptive and non-functional. Although coping strategies can become less constructive over time they are ‘strengths’ which helped a child survive. It is important to honour these behaviours and understand them in the context of trauma, while fostering alternatives.
Emotional and mental health:
Children learn how to soothe themselves and manage big feelings (affect regulate) when they live in safe environments with caregivers, who are attuned to their needs. So children growing up in unsafe environments are more likely to develop anxiety and depression.
Children as well as adults who have grown up in unsafe situations can be impulsive, passive and overly compliant. Many can use substances and other coping mechanisms to try and manage, numb or avoid painful feelings.
Relationships and social interactions:
Caregivers ideally provide safety, security, love, understanding, nurture and support. Interpersonal trauma in childhood interrupts secure attachment because it violates the child’s boundaries.
As a result of not being safe and respected, the child and the adult they become, can find it difficult to trust. Sometimes they can trust too easily.
Many survivors experience conflicted relationships and chaotic lifestyles. They often have trouble forming adult intimate relationships, as their reactions threaten to, and do, disrupt close relationships (Henderson, 2006).
Many survivors struggle with their identity, with their core sense of self and their self-esteem. Some survivors find it difficult to learn and complete their education. Or to hold down a job which matches their natural abilities. Because of many chaotic ups and downs, many survivors experience frequent crises e.g. job disappointments, relocations, failed relationships and financial setbacks.
Impact on a sense of meaning:
Having been hurt by another person/people and having to live ‘on guard’ or ‘dissociated’ can create a sense of surviving in the here and now. This can affect the ability to dream about the future. To hope and to develop ambitions
However, making meaning of terrible experiences is a challenge and a hallmark of healing.
Please visit Blueknot, National Child Traumatic Stress Network and NICABM for more information.