Childhood is not always a colourful rainbow, but sometimes it is lonely and traumatic as grey. This trauma always chases you throughout your life if you don’t know how to heal childhood trauma. A traumatic childhood can leave many deep scars on your innocent heart and mind. To heal your childhood trauma, you need to reconnect with your inner childhood.
Healing childhood trauma is challenging because it is not easy to release something you have been holding since childhood. With regular practice and determination, you can overcome your childhood trauma.
What is childhood trauma?
Bitter memories of your childhood, such as if you felt unloved, mistreated, underestimated, or abused by family members. Your subconscious mind carries everything throughout your life. It impacts your lifestyle because it keeps triggering you. Your wounded childhood starts to send triggers to your mind, resulting in over reactions, anger, anxiety or stubbornness, etc.
Childhood traumas trigger your survival mode, due to which you develop a different perspective towards life. You forget to enjoy life because you are always scared of being used,e ven in adulthood. In short, you make an invisible wall around you to keep yourself protected.
Even according to the WHO (World Health Organisation), a childhood trauma can harm you emotionally and physically
Let’s understand childhood trauma deeply.
Types of childhood trauma
Childhood trauma is of many types, impacting your mental, physical and spiritual health. Here are the types of childhood trauma:
- Physical assault
- Emotional abandonment
- Sexual assault
- Witnessing violence
- Death of a close one
How does childhood trauma affect you as an adult?
After having many traumatic events in your childhood, it becomes challenging to live a normal adulthood. Let’s discuss the impacts of childhood trauma on your adulthood. Here are the impacts mentioned below:
- Physical health impacts
- Mental health impacts
- Relationship impacts
- Other impacts
Physical health impacts
Some terrible childhood experiences brutally impact your physical well-being. Asthma, coronary heart disease, diabetes, and stroke are the symptoms caused by a traumatised childhood.
Mental health impacts
Traumatic childhood bleeds throughout your adulthood, emotionally and mentally as well. Anger issues, stress, overthinking, social anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), etc.
Relationship impacts
Adults with childhood traumas face challenges in developing trust in people around them. They are already protecting themselves from cheating, misunderstanding, and other traumatic experiences. According to their perspectives, this world is heartless and ready to take advantage.
Other impacts
Sometimes adults with traumatic childhoods show other signs like low self-esteem, self-harm, and intense reactions, etc.
To get more information, you can check the signs your inner child needs healing.
How to heal childhood trauma: self-healing strategies
You can overcome your childhood trauma by using some self-healing practices, such as:
- Meditation
- Journal writing
- Physical exercise
- Be with emotionally supportive people
Meditation to heal childhood trauma
Mindful Meditation can soothe any kind of traumatic experience you had in your childhood.
Here is a guided self-healing meditation explained in steps:
- Take your childhood picture, place it in front of you and sit peacefully.
- Relax your body, close your eyes, imagine your childhood self and the moment where you were traumatised.
- Sooth yourself with positive affirmations.
- Imagine your adulthood self is protecting your childhood self.
- Focus on your breath and release your trauma outside and inhale healing inside.
- Open your eyes and place your childhood image somewhere you can see often.
Journal writing to heal childhood trauma
You can start to write letters to your childhood self to change the painful memories stored in your subconscious mind. You can write about daily activities because it helps to relax your mind. I myself follow this practice. Whenever I get free time, I often write letters to my inner child to tell them how strong that kid is.
Physical Exercises
Exercises reduce the stress and anger you are suppressing inside. There are many exercises available for you to heal your childhood wounds. Exercises you can perform are:
- Mindful walking
- Dancing
- Cycling
- Grounding
- Breathing exercises
- Stretching
- Swimming
Therapy to heal your childhood trauma
You can treat your childhood trauma with the help of therapy. Commonly used therapies for childhood trauma healing are :
- Trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy (TF-CBT).
- Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR).
- Dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT).
- Somatic therapy or Somatic experiencing (DE).
Trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy (TF-CBT)
In this therapy, a therapist helps you replace your old painful memories with something positive and good. It helps to remove anxiety, fear, guilt or any other PTSD symptoms.
Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR).
In EMDR, therapists use the natural healing process of your brain by using your eye movement from left to right. This therapy does not need much communication, but it helps to heal you emotionally.
Dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT)
In DBT, therapists teach you healthy coping skills, including mindfulness, emotional control, relationship skills, etc. This therapy is good for those facing relationship issues, self-harm urges or intense emotions.
Somatic therapy or Somatic experiencing (DE)
This therapy heals childhood trauma stored in your nervous system. It includes breathing exercises, body movements, etc. This therapy helps to provide a sense of protection.
If you or someone else is facing childhood trauma, but has no idea how to heal childhood trauma. The above methods are helpful and still ensure to share with your parents, close one before you proceed.
Final words
Healing childhood trauma is one of the biggest issues due to the bad parenting system. Whatever the reason is behind your trauma but you can always release those scars to live a healthy life. Remember that you are worthy of love, care and healing. You can use some positive affirmations on a regular basis to change your subconscious thoughts. Write Journals, do Meditation, read self-healing books, and spend time with supportive people around you.
