Effects of Childhood Trauma

Around 43% of children in the U.S. go through childhood trauma. Whether its abuse, neglect, parent/friend loss, parents' divorce, etc. This affects children throughout their whole life. Trauma can stay with children for a very long time and have major effects on them, not just as a kid but as an adult too. Sometimes it can be so traumatic that they forget their whole childhood, almost like they never even had one. 

Studies have shown that childhood trauma has major effects on children later in life. People who have experienced trauma at a young age are:

15 times more likely to attempt suicide

4 times more likely to become an alcoholic

4 times more likely to inject drugs

3 times more likely to use antidepressant medication

3 times more likely to be absent from work

If you’ve experienced trauma as a child you could potentially push your trauma onto your children as well. How does this happen? Trauma can leave a chemical mark on a person’s genes, which can be passed down to future generations. A person’s DNA can sometimes change after they are traumatized which can cause them to affect their children without even trying. Childhood trauma is a sad and hard thing to deal with/understand. But there are many things people can do to help. Be a person they can talk to, sometimes you need to just let some feelings out. Give them time, sometimes they don’t want to let it all out at one time. Don’t criticize them for how they feel. Accept how they are feeling.

 

What are some other things you can do to help?

Do you know someone who has childhood trauma?

Have you ever experienced something traumatic?

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  • The only thing you can really do to help somone through a traumatic childhood is understand where they are coming from and understanf thier actions. I know alot of people with childhood trauma including myself. Me, my sisters, my cousins, my aunts, uncles, and even mt friends have expericened childhood trauma. I have experienced quite a bit of childhood trauma. coming mostly from my fathers substance abuse.

    • Understanding them is a very big and helpful thing you can do to help. Be a person they can talk to without being judged or criticized for what they've been through.

  • There aren’t many things that you can do to help people who are experiencing trauma or have experienced trauma, but the best you can do is be there for them when they truly need it and be someone they can talk to about anything. Making them more comfortable with you and themselves help them understand that they are not alone and they don’t need to hold everything in all the time. I, unfortunately, know a lot of people who have experienced trauma in their lives and I have a little bit of trauma myself so I understand that it is difficult to express to people how you feel and what you are going through so hard, in fact, you feel like you can’t express how you feel so you hold it in and bottle it up inside. My parents divorced when I was just a baby but it still affected both me and my sister and different ways, but my younger half-brother went through something similar so all three of us talk and have gotten comfortable with each other enough to talk about what we have been through together and how it affected us. I try my best to help my friends express their feelings to me so that I can try to help them, but because of my trauma, I sometimes feel like I am not much of a help.

    • I agree, being there for them is the best thing you could do, they don't want to hear how you've "been through worse" or that you have "bigger things going on". Most of the time they are trying to tell you their feelings and just want someone to listen.

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