![]() ![]() While some of these outcomes can be attributed to high-risk behaviors like substance abuse that often result from trauma, even when those aren’t a factor, you’re still at higher health risk due to your sustained stress response. ACEs decrease life expectancy by up to 20 years. People exposed to childhood trauma in high doses have triple the rates of heart disease and lung cancer. Those with six ACE scores were shown to be 40,000 times likelier to commit suicide.Ĭhildhood trauma dramatically affects your brain development, immune system, hormonal systems and even the way your DNA is read and transcribed. The impacts of this cannot be underestimated: in a recent study of 17,000 adults, if a person had even two ACEs, their rates for depression, suicidality and drug use were exponentially higher. It’s estimated that at least 67 percent of the population has had at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE). But if we’re in a constant state of fear – which is what happens in abusive home – it profoundly affects our developmental health.Ĭhildhood trauma is incredibly common. When we have an intense stress response, we’re biologically designed to physically respond to it (this is the phenomenon known as “fight, flight or freeze”). While stress can be a good thing – a certain degree of it is required for motivation – when it accumulates over time, it can become toxic. Trauma is defined as an event that overwhelms our capacity to cope. As an adult, this leads to passive-aggressive behavior as you’re afraid of the consequences of communicating straightforwardly.Ī history of verbal abuse also adds to your catalog of self-criticisms, amplifying negative self-talk in a way that takes concerted effort to overcome. If you felt from a young age that none of your emotional needs were important, you probably learned to bury and suppress them. When you’re raised in an environment that’s lacking in love and support, you don’t have a good reference point for healthy relationships, and you might play out similarly problematic ones throughout your adult life. Conversely, you feel out of touch with your emotionsĭepending on how severe your experience of abuse was, you may feel like your childhood was stolen from you.You feel like you don’t have a firm grasp on your personal identity.You repeatedly find yourself in toxic relationships with unavailable people.The memories you do have are more like small glimpses than contextualized stories.You don’t recall much of your early childhood at all.You may be experiencing the effects of childhood trauma if: We may not even realize the extent of it until the way it presents in our lives as adults forces us to unpack it. Trauma at this stage is so confusing, it can often be hard to recognize. They discovered the participants who had experienced more childhood maltreatment showed greater distrust and were less consistent when judging photographs of unfamiliar faces.How to Recognize the Effects of Childhood Trauma In a 2021 study published in Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation, researchers implemented a distrust game with the participants. Sadly, being exposed to childhood trauma may affect an individual's ability to trust. For example, an avoidant attachment style can develop after being abused or neglected by caregivers and may contribute to avoidant behavior or refusing to seek help from others.Įstablishing trust is essential for sustaining a healthy, long-lasting relationship with others. In comparison, those with unhealthy bonds to their caretakers may display insecure attachment styles (per Verywell Mind). Those who form healthy bonds with their caretakers are more likely to develop a secure attachment style, feeling reassured that their loved ones will not abandon them. John Bowlby, a British psychologist, examined attachment styles and how separation from caregivers affects children. ![]()
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