The Unseen Effects of Childhood Trauma

Adverse Childhood Experiences

There are certain adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that children may experience before the age of 18 that can have a lasting impact on their mental and physical health. It is important to bear in mind that events that may not impact adults as much can have a long-lasting effect on children since childhood is such a vulnerable time and the brain is still developing. Some examples of ACEs include:

• Parents separating or divorcing
• Abandonment or neglect
• Experiencing physical, emotional, or sexual abuse
• Being a child in a household where there is alcoholism or substance abuse present
• One or more parents being mentally unwell
• One or more parents being in prison
• Losing a family member to suicide
• Witnessing domestic violence within the home

How Trauma Affects the Developing Brain

Children are still developing, and the brain continues to develop until the age of 25. Because of this, experiencing a traumatic event in childhood, or living through a prolonged traumatic experience can cause the child’s brain to develop differently to how it normally should.

Children who experience ACEs and traumatic events in their childhood might experience a range of side effects including difficulty forming relationships with others, depression, anxiety, a higher risk of substance abuse, and a higher risk of suicide attempts. The impacts of childhood trauma do not go away when the child grows up and reaches adulthood. Adults who experienced childhood trauma are more likely to have health and social difficulties.

Complex PTSD

Complex PTSD is a common response in people who have been in a traumatic situation, such as witnessing domestic violence at home, for a prolonged period. Complex PTSD differs from PTSD. With PTSD, which is often associated with soldiers, the symptoms are the result of one traumatic event. For example, somebody who struggles with symptoms of anxiety, flashbacks, and panic attacks after being involved in a car crash is struggling with PTSD.

Complex PTSD is a condition that can develop in somebody who has been trapped in a traumatic situation for a prolonged period with no immediate way out. This is most common in children from abusive households, or households where one or more parent has drug abuse or alcohol problems, or a mental health condition that impacts their parenting style. Children may feel powerless to do anything about the situation that they are in, which can further the trauma that they experience.

Complex PTSD is a complicated condition, and symptoms are not often obvious. Children with complex PTSD may experience behavioural issues, or struggle with panic attacks, depression, and anxiety. It can also cause emotional flashbacks, which are flashbacks where the child feels the same way as they did when they were in the traumatic situation.

Life in Survival Mode

Children who are brought up in toxic households and experience traumatic situations quickly learn to live their life in survival mode. This is especially true in the case of a child who has been brought up by one or more abusive parents. In this situation, children quickly learn to be on high alert all the time. This causes the amygdala, which is the ‘fight or flight’ centre of the brain, to become over-developed. At the same time, the child is not getting as much of a chance to develop the other parts of their brain that deal with things like building relationships, empathy, and learning.

A child who has grown up in or spent a lot of time in this kind of volatile situation may be too busy being on high alert that they struggle with doing anything else. They may always expect the worst to happen, and it may seem like they find it impossible to relax. While retraining the brain to not be on high alert all the time is not something that can happen overnight, providing a physically and emotionally safe place for the child is a good place to start.

Dorsal Vagal Shutdown

Most of us have heard about the fight or flight response, where your brain and body prepare to respond to a perceived or real threat by either running away from it or fighting it head-on. However, there are two other main responses that may not be as well-known: the freeze and fawn responses. These responses may show up in children who have found that fleeing or fighting doesn’t help the situation for them.

Dorsal vagal shutdown is the final stage of the threat response process, where the body and mind start to shut off and become numb. A ‘freeze’ response is not uncommon when a child or an adult is in dorsal vagal shutdown. They may find it difficult to do the things that they enjoy or focus on the things that they need to do such as schoolwork. They may seem unresponsive at times or present as depressed. If traditional depression treatments, such as anti-depressants or talk therapy are having no effect, then it is more likely to be dorsal vagal shutdown than typical depression.

The fawn response is another common one to look out for in children who have been abused or have lived in a toxic situation. This is often common in children who have learned over time that simply doing what their abuser wanted meant that they would get out of the situation faster or be safer. Children with a fawn response might not know how to set healthy boundaries or may become people pleasers, saying yes to everything without knowing how to give any consideration to how they feel.