Therapy For Childhood Trauma
Childhood trauma impacts millions of people worldwide, shaping emotional and physical health, relationships, and even career success. Yet, its effects often remain misunderstood or overlooked by those suffering. In recent years, there has been increasing awareness and understanding of the long-term effects of childhood trauma and the importance of seeking therapy to heal from it.
What Is Childhood Trauma?
Childhood trauma refers to experiences that are emotionally painful or distressing and can have a lasting impact on an individual's development. Childhood trauma encompasses distressing experiences that overwhelm a child’s ability to cope. These traumas come in many forms; some are single incidents, while others are continuous or relational. These experiences can include physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, neglect, accidents, medical procedures, natural disasters, or witnessing violence.
Children who experience trauma may develop coping mechanisms to help them deal with their difficult experiences. However, these coping mechanisms can become problematic in adulthood and affect their overall well-being. The impact of childhood trauma is often complex and can manifest in various ways.
Examples of Trauma Events:
Loss of a family member
Serious accidents (e.g., car accidents)
Witnessing or experiencing violence
Surviving natural disasters
Relational and Ongoing Traumas:
Verbal, emotional, or physical abuse
Neglect or abandonment
Having to "parent" your parents (being parentified)
Growing up in an unsafe or unstable environment
These experiences reach into adulthood, influencing behaviors, relationships, and mental well-being.
The Lasting Impact of Childhood Trauma
Research shows that the effects of childhood trauma don't disappear when you grow up. The Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study revealed that adverse childhood experiences significantly correlate with mental health struggles and physical illnesses later in life.
Examples of ACEs:
Experiencing abuse or neglect
Witnessing domestic violence
Growing up with substance abuse or mental illness in the home
Losing a parent to divorce, separation, or incarceration
Experiencing homelessness
Experiencing Racism or discrimination
How Childhood Trauma Impacts the Brain
Prolonged trauma can change how your brain works. Children raised in environments of chronic stress or fear may have underdeveloped "relaxed states.” Instead, their brains remain in overdrive, stuck in fight, flight, or freeze mode. This hypervigilant state affects attention, mood regulation, emotional expression, and physical well-being.
For some, trauma impacts the ability to detect warning signs in others, leading to repeated cycles of unhealthy or abusive relationships in adulthood. The effects of trauma can be passed across generations—what affects your grandmother may show up in your life today.
Common Symptoms in Adulthood:
Many symptoms of childhood trauma surface in adulthood, including:
Mental Health Issues: Depression, insomnia, dissociation, anger, suicidal ideation, addiction, eating disorders
Relational Struggles: Idealizing and devaluing others, struggling with intimacy, people-pleasing, withdrawal
Physical Symptoms: Chronic pain, migraines, fatigue, digestive issues, thyroid problems, autoimmune disorders
Trauma can also drive individuals to rely on external things—alcohol, food, relationships—to self-soothe. Left unaddressed, these struggles can ripple out, affecting careers, friendships, and family life.
How Trauma Therapy Can Help You Heal
If you recognize yourself in the struggles described above, seeking help through trauma therapy is an essential step toward healing. Avoiding and burying trauma often worsens symptoms, leading to unconscious reenactments, heightened stress, and even chronic health issues.
What Makes Therapy Effective?
Trauma therapy focuses on creating a safe environment where clients can explore experiences from their past without judgment. Techniques such as trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) and somatic therapy can help you:
Process painful memories and feelings
Address emotional triggers
Improve relationships by enhancing interpersonal skills
Develop healthier coping and life skills
Working with a trauma specialist allows you to address core issues like self-blame, negative self-talk, and self-sabotaging behaviors with compassion. Healing takes many forms, from leaning skills, developing awareness, healing insecure attachment patterns and learning to nurture yourself and rebuild your sense of safety.
What Happens in Trauma Therapy?
Understanding the Impacts: Therapy begins by exploring how trauma affects your relationships, self-view, and choices.
Developing Awareness: Identifying behaviors (e.g., addiction, withdrawal) and thought patterns that are keeping you stuck.
Rewriting the Narrative: Address unhelpful beliefs and create new, healthier ones.
Building Resilience: Learn skills for emotional regulation, self-compassion, and decision-making.
Trauma therapy isn’t about blaming your parents or revisiting pain endlessly. It’s about addressing the roots of your struggles so you can live more freely and fully in the present.
Addressing Your Concerns about Trauma Therapy
“I’ve tried therapy before, and it didn’t help.”
Therapy success often depends on the relationship between you and your therapist, known as therapeutic alliance. If the therapeutic alliance is off, therapy is less likely to be effective due to the lack of trust and inability to be vulnerable. Finding a trauma therapist you feel safe with, who listens without judgment, and who understands your needs is critical. Consider scheduling a phone consultation to see if it feels like a good fit first.
“I don’t want to just blame my parents.”
Some clients worry that therapy will turn into a blame game, particularly when it comes to their parents. However, therapy is never about placing blame, especially on someone you care about. Instead, it’s about fostering understanding—understanding the "how" and "why" behind your experiences and learning what steps to take to move past the pain you’re facing.
We strive to create an environment built on compassion, non-judgment, and deep understanding, free from blame. Even if your parents may have caused harm, therapy isn’t about condemning or vilifying them. Instead, it’s about recognizing them as imperfect, human, or perhaps unwell themselves. This perspective allows you to release the burden of blame—whether directed at them or yourself—and focus on healing.
Why Healing Childhood Trauma Matters and How Coastal Counseling Will Help
Childhood trauma isn’t just something you “get over.” It requires active processing and exploration to prevent its effects from continuing to disrupt your relationships, health, and life. Successful therapy uncovers the roots of your pain, rewires your responses to stress, and teaches you how to integrate healthier coping strategies into your life.
At Maxcy's therapy office in Ventura and Agoura Hills, she honors these practices. With over a decade of experience as a trauma specialist Maxcy is here to support you towards finding healing from whatever pain you might be in. Please reach out for a free consultation to see if Maxcy would be a good fit for you.