Childhood trauma, such as physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, neglect, or separation from a parent, can have lasting consequences on your physical as well as your mental health in adulthood. Healing these traumas continues to be of interest to many mental health professionals. Recovering from the emotional damage that occurred in your early years will benefit your adulthood. Keep reading to see how healing childhood traumatic experiences will be helpful in your adult years.
Healed and Improved Relationships
Emotional damage during the early years is adults’ root cause of relationship issues. You may experience strained relationships with the people who triggered or caused the trauma during your early years. You may also develop a strained relationship with the people you expected to help when you were emotionally damaged, but they did not. Some people even prefer not to have any relationships at all since they are unable to trust anyone. Healing from the trauma ensures that your relationship with these people is restored. To recover from the damages caused, you may need to seek the services of a professional counselor. For instance, if you live in Georgia, you can attend counseling in Alpharetta, GA, for individual therapy sessions.
Lowers the Risks of Chronic Health Conditions
Traumatic stress affects the immune system, which helps fight infection in the body, and the endocrine system, which produces many of the hormones necessary for survival. Accordingly, psychological damage experienced during your infancy years may increase the chances of developing chronic health conditions. Such conditions include high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, and heart disease. Subsequently, recovering from the emotional damage will reduce the chances of developing chronic illnesses. This will help you save on costs that would otherwise be used for medication and settling other hospital bills.
Ensures More Resilience to Future Stress
Trauma experienced during your early years may lead to the development of post-traumatic stress disorder. With this condition, you may encounter nightmares and anxiety. With healed trauma, you can easily cope with minor and major stressors, thus preventing adverse effects of stress such as depression. In addition, You will be able to identify the possible stressors that come your way and avoid them before they cause any emotional damage.
Enhances Productivity
Psychological damage will lower your productivity, whether in school or the workplace. This is because trauma will lead to mental inefficiency and the development of poor work habits such as procrastination. Healing from childhood emotional damage will boost your productivity by making you more mindful of your surroundings and thinking about the consequences of different life choices. If you work in an office, then it will also help to improve your mood because this type of damage can cause conflict with co-workers. Furthermore, healing from a traumatic experience can free up energy that is devoted to negative feelings and thoughts, which helps you to maintain an optimistic outlook in your maturity years.
Lowers Self-Destructive Behaviors
Some traumatic experiences may lead to severe anger issues, leading to self-destructive behaviors as a way of dealing with pain and anger. Such behaviors include addiction, drug and substance abuse, and self-injuring, for instance, cutting yourself. When you recover from the trauma and get over your anger issues, you no longer need to turn destructive behavior inward or outward to feel better. This is because you can now focus on healthy coping strategies such as exercise, writing, reading, drawing, and painting, which are infinitely better than self-destructive behaviors.
Improves Your Self-Esteem
Healing from childhood traumatic experiences effectively improves your self-esteem and self-worth, consequently reducing feelings of guilt and shame. As you gradually come to terms with the traumas you endured, you develop a positive sense of who you are. You will get to understand that no matter what happened in your past, you are now an adult who is free to make your own choices and decisions in life.
Conclusion
The effects of childhood trauma can be seen throughout your life if left untreated. You may have felt shame or anger that never got the chance to heal in childhood, and the wounds are still open. Recovering from trauma is possible and therapeutic methods can help repair your childhood wounds and heal the psychological damage. Simple consult a professional to take you through the healing journey.
