4 consequences of childhood trauma if we do nothing…

Whatever resonates in you when reading this article, BELIEVE that what you feel is real…

I believe you.

And I have observed for years that, to become resilient, we should learn to believe ourselves, to respect our feelings regardless of what others think, to respect ourselves, unconditionally.

Even though what I share on this blog is validated by my own experience and my feelings in my own body, I’d like to clarify that what follows is not only my story. The following are the main psychotraumatic consequences That I have observed in my clients, and that many other trauma experts have obseved in millions of adults across the world.

Scientifically, we know that these psychotraumatic consequences create serious long-term issues on our health and relationships.

That being said…

Let’s start by recalling that childhood trauma of course concerns VIOLENCE and ABUSE (physical and sexual), but also NEGLIGENCE, particularly emotional. The latter often occurs when parents fail to recognize their own feelings and emotional needs.

In all cases, this violence, abuse and neglect create symptoms which may initially go unnoticed, and which will intensify over the years and difficult experiences, if they are not taken into account.

These symptoms will become more and more frequent, and will cycle in a loop until leading to an explosion of dysfunctional behaviors associated around midlife or a new emotional shock (loss, separation, accident). .

If we are not aware of it, these behaviors can become very disabling and isolate us from the rest of society. This social isolation was my case for many years before I took my symptoms seriously. I’ll tell you more about it later.

Let’s get to the heart of the subject of the psychotraumatic consequences of childhood trauma if you wish…

These traumas were created in childhood but for many of us, they remain stuck in the body for years (or even a lifetime) until expressed and released. They are stored in our nervous system, and resurface in different forms, including the following:

• Shock and numbness : during the trauma and later in life when faced with other external threats, our nervous system can suddenly shut down to protect us. We can then no longer move, speak or feel due to excessive secretion of cortisol and adrenaline (stress and survival hormones). It’s a state of inner terror and extreme stress that takes over us. We then become a “robot”, physically and emotionally anesthetized.
• Dissociation: when the astonishment continues, the brain has no other choice to help the body survive in the face of such stress than to “trip the breaker”. It’s like an overvoltage electrical circuit which risks burning out and trying to protect the electrical devices on the circuit (in this case, the heart and the brain). The brain then secretes a morphine-ketamine cocktail to no longer feel physical and emotional pain. This plunges us into a very bizarre feeling of unreality, a sort of depersonalization, a deprivation of our emotions, of our energy, of our capacity to find solutions. It’s then that we leave our body (too insafe), that we disconnect from our needs, that we become spectators, passive, completely disconnected, under the influence of the outside, trapped inside us. We can remain dissociated for a few minutes, a few hours, months or years.
• Traumatic memory: dissociation is an alternative to expressing our emotions when it is too difficult or even impossible to speak. However, this self-cutting doesnt’t come without side effects. It triggers an interruption of the memory in space and time. Our memory is therefore blocked at the time of the trauma which couldn’t be managed by our brain. It will therefore make us relive the violence of the past in the exact same way, each time we experience a situation linked to the trauma. At all ages and in an instant, even for a simple non significant detail, we can find ourselves invaded by emotions from the past that we don’t even know, because we have forgotten them…

… This is where we fall under the influence of panic and anxiety attacks as well as emotional flashbacks which are in reality unbearable sensations, images, sounds, noises, sentences and scenes that come back to our adult present. We then have the impression of imploding. Some experts consider it torture. It’s like a mine that can explode at any moment, like a time machine into our greatest suffering.

• Traumatic amnesia is a memory disorder that is part of the arsenal of symptoms that appear after a traumatic event, and which fall within the framework of post-traumatic stress disorder. It takes place when the emotions of the trauma are too strong. The brain erases the event, even if its memory remains buried in the nervous system. We therefore no longer see the images, but we keep the sensations of oppression, terror, inner emptiness… A part of us and our history is amnesiac, in a coma, and another can wake up in the form of painful sensations, like a broken record that could start playing at any time. We no longer have any trace of our trauma, no more evidence, only symptoms which leave the file open. It’s like an open wound that we don’t disinfect, and of which we are not sure that it really exists since it’s both invisible and hidden by the brain…

… It’s in the amnesic part that certain chronic pathologies take hold such as depression, repeated anxiety, addictions, skin diseases, physical, muscular or sexual tension (apparently) without explanation.

If these symptoms resonate with you, know that your brain and body created them for a GOOD reason. To allow you to survive in society.

These are normal and healthy reactions… For a few weeks or months after a traumatic experience. But after several years, they destroy us. This intense stress is not supposed to stay in the body. Our biology is not designed for that.

It’s for these reasons that, in my opinion, we should talk about our traumas more openly and freely to people we trust….

It’s for these reasons that I felt the need to open this blog and this support space for resilient people like you.

It’s for these reasons that I am committed to supporting people traumatized in childhood in the release of their buried emotions, by offering trauma coaching sessions to which I include energetic healing and somatic practices.

> I invite you to book your free consultation with me if you are ready to see how trauma informed coaching can help you find your best solutions, which are already there, inside you.

Amandine Mas — Emotions and Writing Coach on https://www.instagram.com/amandine_emotional_freedom

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Sources and References:

• American Psychological Association: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) website
• International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies: Understanding PTSD website
• National Institute of Mental Health: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder website
• van der Kolk, B. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Penguin Books.
• Murielle Salmona, french psychiatrist, founder in 2009 of the Traumatic Memory Association, an organization for workers caring for victims of violence (in particular sexual violence, domestic violence, children violence, and terrorism violence).