How Does Childhood Trauma Impact Someone As An Adult?
The lessons we learn as children shape our behaviors and beliefs well into adulthood. That is true for everyone, but it is especially true for adult survivors of childhood trauma. They carry their childhood memories of neglect, abuse, and betrayal with them.
Childhood trauma shapes how someone protects and feels about themself. It also will dictate how they function in their personal relationships.
While those defense mechanisms often help them navigate unsafe family structures and homes growing up, the cost of living on high alert takes a toll. By the time they reach adulthood, many of those defense mechanisms are doing more harm than good.
Here are some of the most common ways childhood trauma impacts adults.
Stormy Relationships
As children, we’re constantly soaking up lessons on how to behave in relationships. We’re forming opinions on who we can trust, how we show love, and what behaviors are okay. Children who grow up in unsafe environments, with caretakers who are unreliable, abusive, or neglectful, are often left with scars from their experiences.
Attachment issues are common in people whose early childhood relationships were dangerous. They may learn to avoid emotional connection and vulnerability. In those cases, they may struggle with commitment and and hesitate to open up about their feelings, desires, or fears. In other cases, fear of abandonment and insecurity may lead them to cling desperately to unhealthy relationships, looking for constant reassurance.
Others may engage in push-pull behaviors. They crave the love and security they were denied as children, while simultaneously fearing it. Such individuals may create stormy patterns in their relationships.
Reckless Behaviors
Adults who went through traumatic experiences can sometimes turn to reckless and self-destructive behaviors as a way to cope. Drug and alcohol abuse is common—but so are eating disorders, video game addiction, and sexual promiscuity. These behaviors are all ways our bodies might try to balance out our hormones. They’re a way of getting dopamine, which activates the reward centers in our brain and makes us feel better.
As they age and their tolerance for dopamine increases, the old methods of keeping their mood up may stop working. In turn, this can lead to depression, anxiety, and feelings of hopelessness.
Low Self-Esteem
Tragically, many children who are abused grow up with a strong belief that they are broken as a result of their experiences. Intense feelings of shame, self-loathing, and insecurity carry over into adulthood. Adults who went through trauma need to recognize that they didn’t do anything wrong. No matter how they might feel, they should know they aren’t broken. We’re all works in progress, capable of tremendous healing.
Healthcare Issues
Prolonged exposure to stress hormones can trigger a variety of health issues, including weight gain, heart problems, muscle aches, soreness, fatigue, and chronic migraines. Running your body on high alert 24/7 comes with a cost—and that cost often shows up as they reach adulthood. Many of these problems are tied to traumatic memories and experiences. People may not realize those aches, pains, and other symptoms can be triggered by subconscious reminders of past trauma.
Because these issues are rooted in traumatic experiences, many physical symptoms may be resolved via trauma-focused therapies such as EMDR and Brainspotting.
Getting Support
You don’t have to let the wounds of your childhood haunt you. Chaos and pain may be part of life, but we all have the innate power to heal those past traumas—to view them from a new perspective. I specialize in helping people process the past so that they can focus on enjoying what the present has to offer. Please reach out today to learn more about trauma therapy.
