Trauma results from the inability to overcome a traumatic situation, that is, the emotions experienced by the person are greater than the traumatised person could bear.

According to the website of Rosa Basto, a clinical psychologist, traumatic events are usually related to violent situations that provoke fear or stress. Physical aggression, sexual violence, and wars, in any age group, can be considered traumatic events.

Childhood is the canvas of adult life. Thus, traumatic events during childhood will be reflected in adult life. Among the consequences of childhood, maltreatment can lead to symptoms of anxiety and depression, hypervigilance and intense fear.

Childhood trauma

In childhood, trauma can come from physical or psychological violence from parents to children, or even exposure to aggressive events within the home, such as domestic violence, alcoholism or absentee parents. Parenting is the key to raising a mentally healthy adult, as such several experts support the idea that the child should not be exposed to any kind of violence during the child's education process.

The Ordem dos Psicólogos confirms that the exposure of children to violence can bring about problems of naturalisation of violence. When this naturalisation takes place, the child can, in adult life, replicate the behaviours, whether in the role of aggressor or victim. Since the child had access to this type of violence, the behaviours are considered normal for that person, who accepts to subject himself or to practice violence on other people, or even normalise the fact that of being a victim.

Those who suffer from psychological trauma have symptoms such as social isolation, a frequent state of agitation, depression and anxiety, as well as little ability to deal with anger, with occasional outbreaks.

Overcoming trauma

The easiest way to overcome childhood trauma during adulthood is psychological treatment. Several traumatised adults are not aware of their trauma and used to violence towards their children as a form of education because it normalised what they went through in childhood, or to run away from certain situations that for another person would be considered banal and free from some embarrassment and intrusive thoughts.

Psychotherapy will offer techniques to deconstruct traumatic memories and teach the patient to live with what he will never be able to erase from his memory, with techniques such as brain spotting.

In addition to professional help, there are ways to find inner peace and learn to better cope with traumatic events.

Some traumas can cause self-esteem to always be at low levels, however, there is the possibility of keeping it at levels that make the person feel good. Understanding a person's qualities, both physical and psychological, can help to increase self-esteem. The same is true when you have a healthy group of friends and family. Those who are surrounded by healthy relationships end up having a strong support network, where they feel welcomed and respected by people who only want good for them.

Traumatic memories, especially experienced during childhood, can make the adult look back on the past with anger and resentment towards those who caused the traumatic moments. To assuage this, forgiveness can be the key to finding inner peace. Despite being a complicated job, it can be done together with a therapist, who will give you the necessary tools to find inner peace.

Anyone around us has a past and no one can decipher what the person feels or why they feel, as such, we must respect the behaviour of those around us and, if possible, help the person so that they can live a life in peace and without hurting the people around them.

Author

Deeply in love with music and with a guilty pleasure in criminal cases, Bruno G. Santos decided to study Journalism and Communication, hoping to combine both passions into writing. The journalist is also a passionate traveller who likes to write about other cultures and discover the various hidden gems from Portugal and the world. Press card: 8463. 

Bruno G. Santos