What to Know About Healing from Childhood Trauma

Childhood trauma describes the painful and distressing experiences that can occur whenever a child feels fearful, threatened, or unsafe when they’re growing up. This type of trauma often comes from abuse, neglect, or witnessing some type of violent event throughout one’s childhood.

Even though childhood trauma occurs when someone is young, the effects of childhood trauma can be long term, and signs and symptoms can stay with a person well into adulthood.

You may not have been able to control your childhood, but you are in full control of your future. Healing from childhood trauma isn’t easy, but it is possible. This is what you need to know about overcoming childhood trauma.

Acknowledge the Trauma

It may seem easier to bury all of the associated memories, feelings, and thoughts deep down inside of yourself. But the longer that you try to hide those true feelings and thoughts, the worse the signs and symptoms can become. Eventually, those hidden feelings will bubble up and burst. While it’s not easy, one of the best ways to start the process of healing from trauma is to first acknowledge that you went through a traumatic event.

Take Care of Yourself

During times of high stress and anxiety, it can be easy to dismiss your own wants and needs. Try not to do this, as it can actually make you feel worse. When you take care of yourself, you can make yourself start to feel better from the inside out.

Give your body the fuel and rest it needs to perform to the best of its ability. This means eating a healthy and well-balanced diet, aiming for at least eight hours of sleep each night, finding time during the day to take breaks, rest, or relax, and engaging in activities that promote your physical health.

Practice Self-Care

You can take care of yourself even more by practicing self-care. Throughout the hard times in your life, it’s more important than ever to put yourself first and tend to your own wants and needs. Make sure you’re finding time each and every day to engage in activities you enjoy or surround yourself with the people that make you happy and bring you joy and fulfillment.

Implement Healthy Coping Mechanisms

Unhealthy coping mechanisms like alcohol, drugs, gambling, or unsafe sex may seem like a great and quick solution to your problems, but they aren’t long-term solutions, and they can actually lead to worsening signs and symptoms.

Instead, try to work on implementing healthy and long-lasting coping mechanisms. These healthy coping mechanisms include activities like arts and crafts, writing in a journal, or spending time with loved ones.

Give Yourself Grace

Make sure you’re being kind to yourself during this time and giving yourself grace. Healing takes time. Have patience, and celebrate your wins along the way. This isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. It will take time, but if you put in the work, you’ll start to see small improvements which can add up to big results. It’s about the journey, not the destination. Even the small wins are still wins. Progress over perfection.

Seek Additional Support

Remember that healing from childhood trauma takes time. The trauma didn’t form over a day or night. There’s a good chance that it built over time. That means it’s going to take longer than a few days to work through the various memories, thoughts, and feelings associated with this trauma.

Trauma-focused therapy can help you process the trauma and help you learn healthy coping mechanisms to implement moving forward. If you’re interested in exploring the different options for working with a mental health professional, reach out today to get started.