When a child experiences trauma, it can follow her/him into adulthood because, for some, traumatic experiences may cause long-lasting changes to a developing brain and nervous system. For others, the protective factor, such as the positive person/presence of a parent or caregiver, may shield them, making them more resilient.
The brain itself may act as a defence mechanism that protects a person from overwhelming stress by repressing memories or creating gaps in one’s experiences. Often, the brain stores memories of trauma in the subconscious until the mind can process and understand it. Often too, our bodies carry those traumas in physical illnesses and ways that make for odd expressions and behaviour.
Trauma is described as “an emotional response to an event that is deeply frightening or distressing.” For a young child, the impact of any such incident is difficult to determine specifically because of the inability to process and to communicate. A child does not yet have sufficient experience to make sense of many things that occur in early life.
A child is vulnerable and should be protected.
But childhood trauma can be healed. Not as in erasing or forgetting past experiences, but interventions are available to help with the “rewiring” of the brain, addressing negative cycles with compassion and care in various therapies and interventions.
Childhood trauma has long been among the determinants for mental illness and has long been associated as a factor for psychiatric outcomes. It is among the most consistently documented risk factors for psychiatric disorders in adult life.
Most research on the issue estimates and attributes approximately half of all mental illnesses and conditions to some type of trauma in childhood.
In a 2021 study, researchers say that with variations in the country of assessment and the specific types of maltreatment, the prevalence for childhood maltreatment for most countries is estimated at 40 to 50 per cent of the population having had some type of childhood maltreatment (Hepp, et al).
The study, titled “Childhood maltreatment is associated with distrust and negatively biased emotion processing,” says that along with mental ill health, children who experienced maltreatment were also predictive for having “poorer psychosocial adjustment and socioeconomic status later in life.”
“This has been the subject of a considerable body of research that has repeatedly documented strong associations between childhood trauma and numerous negative mental health, physical health, and social outcomes in childhood and later life” (Larkin, 2008).
Last week, in establishing that childhood determinants are powerful predictors of adult health, we highlighted types of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that contribute to the problem. Among them abuse, neglect, parental death or imprisonment and family violence are strongly related to mental disorders. And the literature also shows that where there is one adverse experience, there are others.
Child maltreatment is a subset of the ACEs and is defined as “any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or other caregiver that results in harm, potential for harm, or threat of harm to a child.”.
This includes, for instance,
• emotional neglect: for example, parents who are not available to comfort their child when in distress
• emotional abuse: parents who insult or devalue their child
• physical neglect: parents who fail to provide food, clothing, or medical care for their child
• physical abuse: parents who beat their child, and
• sexual abuse (Hepp et al).
“Things that are frightening or traumatising for an adult are likely to be even more traumatising for a child,” says annafreud.org, a UK mental health charity supporting children for decades.
“Having a trusted adult around (ideally an attachment figure) can really help a child cope with frightening events. This is why the experience of abuse or neglect by a caregiver is always traumatising – the child is both traumatised by the abuse, and then again by that trauma being caused by someone they should be able to trust.”
Exposure in both advocacy and practice has shown the deep emotional scars in both young adults and adults who have experienced or endured childhood trauma.
“These effects are pervasive, influencing mental, emotional and social domains,” says lakesidebhs.com/blog.
“Common symptoms may include persistent anxiety, depression and trust issues. Relationships can become challenging, as unresolved trauma shapes interactions and perceptions.”
Childhood trauma can result in very complex and negative processing of emotions, contorting perspectives of the world, and making for difficult relational communication.
Now, sexual abuse always seems to be added at the end of the list of these traumas. In my experience though, sexual infractions in early life are the main subject in conversations with adults presenting with effects from early childhood experiences and maltreatment.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines child sexual abuse as the involvement of a child or young person under 18 in sexual activities that they do not fully comprehend, are unable to give informed consent to, are not developmentally prepared for, or that violate the laws or social taboos of society.
There needs to be more open dialogue about this area of child/childhood abuse.
