signs of repressed childhood trauma in adults

That’s because it triggers their sense of danger. Traumatized individuals often find coping with change very difficult and stressful, even when the change is positive. But that’s unrealistic, especially for people who experienced childhood trauma. Of course, it’s preferred that everyone be able to adapt to whatever changes that happen with no negative effects. Needing to deal with change is inevitable. But can you see how that can be problematic when they’re still dissociating in normal, non-threatening situations as an adult? At that moment, their mind is trying to protect them. A child may dissociate so they don’t have to mentally deal with a difficult situation. But as an adult, those same coping mechanisms and defensive behaviours may only be impairing your ability to function as an adult.įor example, dissociation is a common effect of childhood trauma in children. Your old mindset and how you tend to cope as a child might’ve carried on to adulthood. Therefore, a significant part of your adulthood may be attempting to meet those childhood needs whether you’re aware of it or not. Your needs as a child weren’t properly met or the traumatizing event(s) stunted your development. Or you may be unbelievably stubborn or cynical to the point it’s juvenile. You may display childish or immature behaviours when faced with anything even slightly challenging. You may throw tantrums when you don’t get what you want. You may struggle to act like an adult because an emotional part of you never really reached adulthood. Until you attempt to resolve the trauma and begin healing, it will continue to affect you in ways you don’t realize. Unresolved trauma affects the body and mind, even well into adulthood. The pain or stress of the situation or memory might be too overwhelming. Trauma often remains unresolved because the traumatized person might try not to think about or face their trauma as much as possible. Trauma also comes in severities, so how traumatizing something is also depends on the person. Though some situations are more likely to be traumatizing than others, it mostly depends on how the individual themselves feel about it.Ī traumatizing situation to one person might not be traumatizing to another and vice versa. However, it’s important to remember that what you experienced and how you felt about it IS valid. Or you may minimize or invalidate your own experiences, claiming “it wasn’t trauma because other people have it worse” or “it wasn’t that bad. You may find ways to distance yourself from the experience by denying it happened, dissociating, or repressing your memories. It is often the result of one’s attempt to protect themselves from their traumatizing experience(s). Unresolved trauma is what the name suggests – trauma that isn’t resolved or dealt with. It may be affecting your current life in ways you aren’t aware of. Like past me, you might have some unresolved childhood trauma you need to work through. I understood more of what happened, how it affected me, and what I can do now to begin healing. There were a lot of emotions I had to work through and a lot of difficult things I had to accept and let go. And hey, the important thing is that I’m getting better, right?įacing the trauma was hard. It’s still a struggle, but that’s all part of the healing process. Realizing all of this didn’t necessarily make the depression go away. It’d be surprising not to feel like this. I spent most of my childhood being ridiculed, shamed, and hurt. My insecurities, self-hatred, guilt, shame, and everything bad I felt about myself and the world made sense. However, once I started to think back to my childhood, everything sort of clicked. I just hated life and everything about it. Does it somehow connect back to a specific event or string of events that happened in your childhood? Think about what seems to trigger your feelings of guilt, shame, fear, or anger. When you experienced something traumatic in your childhood, whether you’re aware of it or not, you likely still have signs of that trauma as an adult.

Signs of repressed childhood trauma in adults