childhood trauma: How to heal from childhood trauma: a brief guide to heal from hidden wounds

Before we dive into how to heal from childhood trauma, let’s try to understand what it is. Childhood trauma refers to experiences that children have that are emotionally or physically distressing, often leaving lasting psychological scars. These can include neglect, being physically, s*xually, or emotionally abused, seeing violence, and going through natural disasters or accidents.

Trauma during childhood can have a significant impact on a person's development and mental health. It can hinder their ability to create healthy relationships, control their emotions, and cope with stress. Trauma experienced as a child can have long-lasting effects even on an adult's mental health, including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and substance abuse.

How to heal from childhood trauma?

The repercussions of childhood trauma may appear irreversible. But with the right approach, you know how to heal from childhood trauma. Healing from childhood trauma can be a long and tough path, but with the appropriate help and tools, it is achievable. Here are some measures you may take to begin healing from hidden wounds:

1) Consider contacting a trauma-focused therapist

They can help you work through the emotions and memories linked to your childhood trauma in a safe and supportive atmosphere. Most importantly, they also become the best resource to answer questions on how to heal from childhood trauma.

2) Educate yourself

Learning about the effects of childhood trauma on the brain and body can help you understand what you’re experiencing and give you the tools to cope with it.

3) Practice self-care

Taking care of yourself physically, emotionally, and mentally can be an important part of the healing process. This could include activities like exercise, meditation, or spending time in nature.

4) Connect with others

Reaching out to supportive friends and family members, as well as joining a support group, may help you feel less alone and provide a safe environment to share your experiences. Unsurprisingly, a common answer to how to heal from childhood trauma is based on connection.

Therapy Methods that address how to heal from Childhood Trauma

Childhood trauma can persist even in adulthood. (Image via Freepik/ Freepik)

The events that occur to us in our childhood can have a huge impact on our adult life. Usually, as time goes by, we reject those memories and bury them as if they have never happened. However, that’s not a healthy coping mechanism. There are several types of therapy to help treat childhood trauma:

1) Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

This kind of treatment seeks to establish a link between our actions and our feelings and ideas. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on the current issues and symptoms of the patient.

Our ideas and feelings are tied to our conduct. Because of this, it might help us create behavioral patterns that are maladaptive in our everyday routine. Over time, these behaviors impact our developing relationships. Our brain creates patterns that help us survive. As humans, we specialize in developing patterns to assist in relieving discomfort.

However, these patterns are frequently not the ideal long-term plan. To make an analogy, when somebody is wounded, making a tourniquet can make them survive enough time to be treated at a hospital. But that tourniquet is neither the best nor the definitive solution for that wound. All in all, CBT will help you obtain a healthier and more balanced thinking pattern.

2) Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)

As adolescents and young adults, we often don't know how to deal with childhood trauma. (Image via Freepik/ Freepik)

Cognitive processing therapy is a specific type of cognitive-behavioral therapy. It emphasizes comprehending trauma and teaches you how to heal from childhood trauma. This treatment promotes awareness of the link between ideas and emotions. It uses psycho-education to increase understanding of the connection between ideas and emotions. It also helps identify automatic thoughts.

You'll be able to recognize harmful thought patterns. It will also help you evaluate and modify those thoughts and beliefs that the circumstances of the trauma have generated in you. The idea of this therapy is that if you can change what you think, you can change how you feel and learn how to heal from childhood trauma.

3) Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET)

Childhood trauma doesn't always involve violence. In addressing how to deal with childhood trauma, we need to think about the narratives we hold. (Image via Freepik/ Freepik)

The goal of this trauma therapy is to construct a timeline in addressing how to heal from childhood trauma. By concentrating on traumatic experiences, it essentially examines the patient's life story. With expert support, the client will rebuild their painful experiences. But alongside the traumatic life events, the person will also reconstruct the positive events.

This allows for a thoughtful reflection on their life as a whole. It can help to develop a sense of identity and reduce the pain that accompanies those memories.

Forgiving yourself and others engaged in your childhood trauma can be a difficult but necessary step in the healing process. Therapy can assist you in making new memories and associations can help you replace negative ones from your childhood.

Remember that healing is a process that will most likely include setbacks. Be patient and compassionate with yourself as you attempt to heal from childhood trauma. This article is a brief guide on how to heal from childhood trauma, but a therapist can help you in giving you an in-depth picture.

Janvi Kapur is a counselor with a Master's degree in applied psychology with a specialization in clinical psychology.

What do you think of this story? Tell us in the comments section below.