Childhood abuse and neglect can lead to mental health issues
New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience has found that the way childhood abuse and/or neglect is remembered and processed has a greater impact on later mental health than the experience itself.
The study found that young adults who retrospectively self-reported experiences of childhood maltreatment before age 12 had a greater number of depressive or anxiety episodes over the subsequent decade than those who did not remember maltreatment, even if they had an official court record. In contrast, participants who had an official record of childhood maltreatment, but no retrospective recall of the experience, had a similar number of emotional disorder episodes in adulthood as those with no experience of maltreatment.
How Talk Therapy Can Help
Talk therapy, also known as psychotherapy, can help people organize memories in a healthy way by helping them identify and change troubling emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. Healing from childhood neglect can be difficult because you may want to connect and understand why it happened, while at the same time wanting to completely hide from the situation. It can take years to process, but it is possible to learn to minimize its impacts to live a healthy, fulfilling, and happy life.
In therapy patients discover new ways to acknowledge the neglect and learn how to process the experience and it’s lingering effects. Facing painful experiences helps patients to stop living in denial by recognizing the effects these traumatic memories are having on daily life. Another aspect is paying attention to your feelings rather than pushing those feelings down. By paying attention to these feelings, it helps to develop self-compassion. One of the most important aspects of healing from childhood trauma is to seek support and not isolate yourself. Talking to a psychologist about childhood trauma can help a person in many ways, including:
- Learning that the trauma can be dealt with and that difficult emotions can be tolerated.
- Organizing memories in a healthy way, rather than developing problematic beliefs and self-blame.
- Reducing symptoms associated with the trauma, such as anxiety, depression, panic attacks, and chronic health conditions.
- Making it easier to function in daily life.
- Helping the person understand their situation, teach strategies to express themselves, and cope with potentially stressful situations.
- Helping the person identify, describe, and respect their journey, and appreciate their own “hard won” survival skills.
- Making connections between early trauma and subsequent patterns of maladaptive behavior, emotional dysregulation, and distorted perception.
- Helping the person face their traumatic memories by describing aspects of their experience in detail.
Mental health professionals who specialize in helping clients develop better cognitive and emotional skills, reduce symptoms of mental illness, and cope with various life challenges to improve their lives. Healing is a process that takes time, patience, and understanding.
To read more about the study mentioned in this article visit ScienceDaily.
Dr. Holland is a psychotherapist practicing in Sonoma County, California, providing cutting edge, integrative and evidence-based mental health care. If you are having trouble adjusting to life’s challenges, Dr. Holland can help you find healthy ways of coping. Fill out the online appointment form or call 707-479-2946.