Effects of childhood trauma
Childhood trauma is mainly an event or events that threaten a child’s life or integrity. A child can go through several types of trauma; these include; bullying, community violence, medical trauma, disasters, domestic violence, car accident, physical abuse, terrorism, and sexual abuse. Trauma can be acute if it’s a single event, chronic if the events are repeated or prolonged, and complicated if the traumatic events are varied. Trauma has both short term and long term effects on the child; some may be experienced in adulthood. These effects are experienced about the victim’s development, psyche, relationships, family systems, and physical components. Childhood trauma occurs when a child experiences overwhelming adverse events while still young. It is known to affect the child for a certain period, with some prolonging their adulthood effects.
Trauma affects a child’s psyche; this traumatic experience affects brain development. Emotionally that child finds it difficult to identify, express, and manage their emotions (Jaworska & Rybakowski, 2019). They may experience anxiety or depression because of internalizing or externalizing stress reactions. Sometimes they react to reminders of those traumatic events with anger, avoidance, or trembling. Later in life, they may experience aggressive behaviors, depression, suicidality, and behavioral problems. Drug taking behaviors may also begin at a young age, which leads to a very high drug dependence lifestyle.
The child’s immune system may develop abnormally or slowly; hence, those children overreact in little or everyday stress. Brain and nervous system are impaired; they do not think clearly and sometimes suffer memory loss; it’s difficult for them to solve problems. Mental development is prolonged; hence the child may frequently get low grades in school. The child may experience chronic and recurrent physical complaints like headaches, which may develop serious health problems later in life like diabetes and heart problems.
Childhood trauma survivors tend to have disrupted ways of interacting with other people. They can find it difficult to trust anyone around them; hence they cannot engage in open and honest relationships; they have a constant fear of being betrayed. It denies them the opportunities to form meaningful life bonds because other people find it challenging to be close (Dye, 2018). They may form relationships that they are emotionally distant, where they never respond to other people’s needs and avoid ever needing other people’s help. Sometimes they may develop relationships and demand a lot of intimacy, always watchful to any slight changes to the relationship, paranoid most times. They may have disorganized attachments where they fear relationships while craving for emotional and intimate closeness. They sometimes lash out when they feel unloved but, at the same time, are reluctant to show love to others.
Trauma affects families differently depending on the child’s age and the culture of the family. It affects how the family functions because they are trying to adjust to the new system. It’s smooth to some but overwhelming to others. Children start to monitor their environment closely, become very irritable when separated from their parents or caregivers, cry or scream often, and continuously need reassurance. The way of communication is significantly affected; family members find it difficult to connect. The child keeps a lot of secrets from the parents or shares just a few of them and vice versa. Children may feel misunderstood by their parents hence suffer alone. Trauma leads to some family members turning to drug abuse and distancing themselves from the rest of the family.
Trauma affects every part of the body; children experience insomnia and night terrors; this causes fatigue and difficulty concentrating. Body pains and aches are often experienced; these pains are majorly unexplainable. They experience a low immune system from childhood. In adulthood, their blood sugar levels may be difficult to regulate or control, causing chronic diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure. The child may lack an appetite for food. If the trauma was physical abuse, accident, or bullying, it might leave the child with permanent deformities or scars. Stress responses tend to be heightened due to high amounts of adrenaline production.
Many victims of childhood trauma tend to exercise or experience violence later in life. Some become offenders and get into criminal and antisocial activities (McDonnell & Valentino, 2016). They may engage in collective violence where they form gangs, especially in teenagers, and practice violence. It can be self- directed, here the victim and the abuser are the same person; the person may physically abuse themselves or commit suicide. Sometimes the violence can be interpersonal, here the person who was a victim of trauma abuses people around him; he/she may abuse their spouse, siblings, parents, and children; A maltreated child becomes an abusive parent and partner. On extreme levels, the abuser will commit community violence where he will abuse people at workplaces, neighborhoods, and sometimes strangers. The cycle of abuse tends to repeat itself.
References
Dye, H. (2018). The impact and long-term effects of childhood trauma. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 28(3), 381-392.
McDonnell, C. G., & Valentino, K. (2016). Intergenerational effects of childhood trauma: evaluating pathways among maternal ACEs, perinatal depressive symptoms, and infant outcomes. Child maltreatment, 21(4), 317-326.
Jaworska-Andryszewska, P., & Rybakowski, J. K. (2019). Childhood trauma in mood disorders: neurobiological mechanisms and implications for treatment. Pharmacological Reports, 71(1), 112-120
Briere, J. N., & Scott, C. (2015). Principles of trauma therapy: A guide to symptoms, evaluation, and treatment (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN-13: 9781483351247