One very common mistake we tend to make about a child and childhood is assuming that, because the child is young, whatever they go through, see and experience in childhood will eventually fade ‘into the abyss’ of their memories, as they outgrow childhood.
Unfortunately, this is not only inaccurate, but also psychologically very untrue; instead, it is logically more advanced to perceive the early stages of human life as being the foundations from which that young person develops.
This encapsulates the human being holistically, including psycho-emotionally, which also happens to be a very significant player in achieving sound adulthood. The purpose of the introduction was to ‘throw in the ring’ our subject for today: Childhood trauma.
Without being too technical with definitions (and all), we can basically sum up this kind of trauma as any form of physical or psycho-emotional harm, discomfort or abrasiveness experienced in childhood; especially at the hands of an older person often tasked with providing warmth, love and care. Of course, individual experiences may vary according to background and upbringing.
However, the one consistency is that childhood traumatic experiences have similar characteristics. They live very long in the memory, stir up emotions of unease and discomfort in the individual concerned; as well as, in the long run, play a part in shaping that individuals’ behaviour and decision-making, well into adulthood.
As already touched on, the scale, weight and kind of childhood trauma that the individual may have come across may vary and quite often, the importance of the trauma may be made worse by the point in time (of their lives) at which it happened.
This explains why some traumas cause more emotional damage than others or why some are way more memorable than others. Neglect and abandonment, for instance, sometimes occur very early in ones’ life, but somehow, the lack of that warmth and emotional reassurance (of a parent) is always felt by that child and will eventually start to show as they grow and look to form relationships of their own.
Growing up seeing violence unravel in your household is also another form of childhood trauma, that proves quite destructive when it comes to influencing the development of a young person into an adult. Playground traumas like bullying and being ridiculed for your physical features will always have a bearing on how you will view yourself, especially amongst others.
The illustrations are way too far-reaching to explore one by one and that is also is testament to how varied we are as individuals, particularly, because we have to interrelate with each other. This is also just to draw an eye towards how important it is to shield our young from such psycho-emotional abrasions at an early age; as a way of nurturing, improving and ensuring that they have a decent shot at a well-adjusted adulthood and a psycho-emotionally balanced life.
As adults who have been unfortunately exposed to such, it is good to come to terms with whatever happened, while trying to analyse how it may have affected you. From there on, it would be easier to make an adjustment and reshape your thinking into a more positive tone.
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