How childhood trauma affects adulthood?

Childhood trauma can take many forms, including physical or sexual abuse, witnessing a traumatic event, having a severe illness requiring surgery and hospitalization (medical trauma), witnessing domestic violence, experiencing intense bullying, even extreme situations like refugee trauma, or experiencing a natural disaster, or even motor vehicle accidents.

Childhood trauma decreases a child’s stability and sense of self, reducing self-worth and often staying with the child into adulthood. This trauma can also impact a person into adulthood. They experience feelings of shame and guilt, disconnected and unable to relate to others creating relationship problems, trouble controlling emotions, heightened anxiety and depression, and anger. A study published in 2016 in Psychiatric Times noted that the prevalence of suicide attempts was significantly higher in adults who experienced childhood trauma.

When a child experiences a trauma that teaches them that they cannot trust or rely on that caregiver, they're likely to believe that the world around them is scary. All adults are dangerous—and that makes it incredibly difficult to form relationships throughout their childhood, including with peers their own age and into the adult years. In the case of a child experiencing caretaker or parent abuse, a number of adult attachment disorders can occur, including dismissive-avoidant attachment, fearful-avoidant attachment, or anxious attachment.  These unhealthy attachment styles are the foundation for all other relationships as an adult, resulting in problematic and unhealthy relationships.

Traumatic events can affect how a child’s brain develops and that can have lifelong consequences. A study published in 2015 showed that the more adverse childhood experiences a person has, the higher their risk of physical health and wellness problems later in life. Childhood trauma may increase an individual’s risk of asthma, coronary heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and stroke.

According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, strong connections exist between childhood trauma and high-risk behavior such as smoking, drug use, or having unprotected sex. Individuals who have experienced abuse are likely to experience stress and anxiety later in life. This long-term stress and anxiety can cause physical symptoms as well as emotional issues throughout life.  In short, childhood trauma creates a fractured foundation for the individual for the rest of their lives. The way we are raised and the sense of security it creates (or shatters) impact the emotional, developmental, social, and physical path we take as adults.