Post Published on April 2, 2016.
Last Updated on April 2, 2016 by davemackey.
I believe that childhood trauma has a significant and formative impact on who we become as adults. The impact can be mitigated by a supportive community during and following the trauma, but such support seems to be the exception rather than the rule. In adulthood we can work to heal the wounds trauma inflicted upon us in childhood, but in my experience, there is always a scar that aches and perhaps tears at times.
The danger when talking about the effects of childhood trauma on adult life is two-fold: (1) We may assume of ourselves that we are inferior to others and (2) others may assume that we are inferior to them.
It is true that we may be changed by what we have experienced, but that sword is double-edged – we may be hobbled in one area, yet ahead in another. One of these days I need to read Wayne Muller’s Legacy of the Heart: The Spiritual Advantages of a Painful Childhood as I suspect he will flesh this thesis out in detail.
Example: During my childhood there was the necessity of separating emotions from actions. This has resulted in a struggle in adulthood to feel, experience, and express my emotions – both negative and positive. Yet the strength that has grown out of this trauma is my ability to remain reasonable within difficult situations. This allows me to function well during a crisis in which action is required or in conflict where I am able to remain calm in the midst of being (verbally) assaulted.1At the same time, my ability to do so doesn’t mean that I should always do so. There is a cost I pay for such restraint and it manifests itself after the conflict is over, often physiologically. Now I choose when I use this ability and when I don’t – knowing the cost.
With this danger acknowledged, and with the hope that others will recognize the strength within their wounds and the strength of others in their wounds, here is the infographic “The Impact of Childhood Trauma on Adult Disorders”:
