If we have experienced childhood trauma to a significant degree, we may irrationally blame ourselves for it which, in turn, may well seriously, negatively, distort our self-perception; in other words, adversely affect our view of ourselves. Our ENVIRONMENT has a large influence on how our personalities develop. For example, children brought up in a …
How Childhood Trauma Can Profoundly Damage Our View Of Ourselves Read More »
One of the main, and most problematic, symptoms that those with borderline personality disorder (a disorder strongly associated with childhood trauma) suffer from is the experiencing of disproportionately intense emotional responses when under stress and an inability to control them or efficiently recover and calm down once such tempestuous emotions have been aroused. This severe symptom …
Unable To Control Emotions? ‘Amygdala Hijack’ And BPD Read More »
Those of us who experienced significant childhood trauma are at a far higher risk of developing the psychiatric condition known as DISSOCIATIVE DISORDER in adulthood than are the rest of the population. Unfortunately, however, it often goes unidentified as it can, not infrequently, be misdiagnosed (most commonly as depression). Not least because the …
Always ‘Zoning Out’? : Dissociative Disorder Explained. Read More »
Effects of Racial and Ethnic Discrimination: A meta-analysis (a research technique that merges together the results of many, independent studies) of 214 studies (the majority of these were carried out in the United States) that examined 91,000 young people between the ages of 10 years and 20 years found that discrimination on the grounds of …
Children Affected By Racism Surprisngly Early In Life Read More »
Research carried out by Carrion et al.(2016) suggests that the experience of childhood trauma affects boys and girls differently. More specifically, childhood trauma appears to have different effects on male and female brains. The research involved 59 young people between the ages of nine years and seventeen years. Using brain scans it was found that …
Trauma Affects Boys’ And Girls’ Brains Differently Read More »
We have seen that a very common symptom of severe and protracted childhood trauma in adults is a deep and pervasive sense of shame. According to Silverstein (1996), exhibitionism is an example of a maladaptive repetition compulsion unconsciously motivated by an overwhelming need to overcome the shame and humiliation associated with traumatic experiences and to …
Traumatic Childhood Precursors To Adult Exhibitionism Read More »
A study conducted by Stensrud et al., 2018 involving 328 male and female prisoners found that the majority reported having experienced far more ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES (ACEs) than the average citizen from the general population and that this was especially the case amongst those who had experienced childhood sexual abuse. A survey of prisoners in …
The Vital Need To Address Childhood Trauma In Prisoner Rehabilitation Read More »
We have seen how severe and protracted childhood trauma can have various adverse physiological effects such as increased production of the stress hormone cortisol, hyperventilation, and fatigue. However, there is one possible effect of extreme, early life stress that is not often discussed, namely the effect on the voice. That the voice can be affected …
Possible Effects Of Childhood Trauma On The Voice Read More »
Research carried out by Carrion et al.(2016) suggests that the experience of childhood trauma affects boys and girls differently. More specifically, childhood trauma appears to have different effects on male and female brains. The research involved 59 young people between the ages of nine years and seventeen years. Using brain scans it was found that …
Childhood Trauma Affects Boys’ And Girls’ Brains Differently Read More »
We have seen that those who endure protracted childhood trauma are at increased risk of developing psychological and physical problems later in life, including complex post-traumatic). stress (complex PTSD. We have also seen that such individuals are often exquisitely sensitive to any form of stress and frequently stuck in a state of hypervigilance (i.e. constantly …
‘Shaking Therapy’ For Reducing Stress Associated With Complex PTSD Read More »
One of the hallmarks of both complex PTSD and borderline persona; disorder (BPD) is a feeling of constant anxiety, agitation and apprehensiveness, As a result of feeling trapped and imprisoned in this distressing state, individuals become desperate to escape it which frequently leads to behaviours that they later regret. Briere et al. (2009) stress the …
A research study (Spense et al., 2011) published in JAMA Psychiatry was conducted to assess the effectiveness of online cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), facilitated by professionally qualified psychologists, in children and young people between the ages of ten years and seventeen years. A total of 103 children and young people participated in the study. The …
Study Into Effectiveness Of Online CBT For Social Anxiety In Young People Read More »
As we have seen from many other articles that I have posted on this site, those suffering from PTSD/Complex PTSD frequently have, amongst others, the following symptoms: Extreme difficulty controlling emotions (also known as ‘emotional dysregulation’) Problems with social interaction such as building and maintaining meaningful relationships, attachments, and connections with others. In a recently …
Childhood Trauma May Harm Brain’s Default Mode Network Read More »
“If you are a girl who has had adverse childhood experiences and these brain connections are weaker, you might expect that in just about any stressful situation you encounter as life goes on, you may experience a greater level of fear and anxiety.” Research conducted by Herringa et al. (2014) has discovered that young people …
Mood Disorder More Likely In Girls Affected By Trauma Than Boys Read More »
It seems, according to a study conducted by Maldonado et al. (2008), that, rather like male, adolescent humans, male adolescent rats choose to consume more alcohol when they observe and are placed in the company of their drunken,’mates.’ The study found that male adolescent rats who socially interacted with FAMILIAR, intoxicated rats drank significantly more …
Getting Drunk: What ‘Adolescent’ Rats And Humans Have In Common Read More »
“We have to build places of hope rather than places of despair. The public school system here is built to contain kids, not educate them. If you build prisons, you create prisoners.” – Bill Strickland. “The sand in the hourglass flows only one way. Don’t waste precious time chasing someone else’s definition of success. …
An Educational Vision For Disadvantaged, At-Risk Young People Read More »
Jia, Wang, and Lin (2020) carried out a study suggesting that children who have suffered neglect are significantly more likely to become malevolently creative in adulthood and that this is partly due to the fact that they are at increased risk of developing what has been termed a dark triad personality Childhood Neglect Childhood neglect …
Childhood Neglect, Dark Triad Personality And Malevolent Creativity Read More »
“Let me state unequivocally that there is no such thing as the person who at age thirty-five suddenly changes from being perfectly normal and erupts into totally evil, disruptive, murderous behavior. The behaviors that are precursors to murder have been present and developing in that person’s life for a long, long time – since childhood.” …
What Kind Of Abuse Is Most Common In Serial Killers’ Childhoods? Read More »
TRANSGRESSION OF ONE’S OWN MORAL VALUES PTSD/complex PTSD can come about as a result of acting in a way that grossly transgresses one’s own moral values. For example, I have written elsewhere about children who have committed homicide after years of severe abuse and, as a result, whose complex PTSD is brought about not …
Focusing on Moral Injury to Treat PTSD/Complex PTSD Read More »
Online Therapies : We have seen from other articles that I have posted on this site that those of us who experienced significant childhood trauma are at greatly increased risk of developing mental health problems as adults. Fortunately, in the age of the internet, there now exist opportunities to receive help with any mental health problems from …
Trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is strongly recommended by the American Psychological Association and it includes CBT, cognitive processing therapy, cognitive therapy and prolonged exposure therapy – all of these are therapies that fall under the umbrella of cognitive-behavioral therapies that are used to address PTSD/complex PTSD. But which of the CBT family of treatments works …
Which Are The Best Types Of CBT For Complex PTSD? Read More »
We have seen that prolonged and repetitive childhood trauma can change a person’s core beliefs about other people, themselves, and how the world works in profound ways. Those who perceived themselves to be rejected and/or betrayed by their parents in childhood may, as adults, struggle with abandonment issues and feelings of worthlessness. They may, too, …
Childhood Trauma Survivors Less Satisfied With Marriage. What Can Spouses Do? A Study. Read More »
Sometimes, people who have experienced significant and protracted childhood trauma e.g. in the form of emotional, physical, or sexual abuse may become fixated on their traumatic experiences and unconsciously addicted to recreating them in their adult lives. For example, those who suffered sexual abuse may become prostitutes (e.g. Finkelhor and Brown, 1985), and those who …
