How to build resilience to childhood trauma
I have not had any experience in dealing with childhood trauma but recently I had begun to understand how it must be for individuals who have gone through that. It has made me realise how much responsibility we have towards these people. To make them feel loved, to make them feel understood and to understand them.
Recently. I’ve begun wondering why people behave in a certain way. The rationale behind their thoughts, feelings, emotions. When a very close friend of mine showed behavior such as anger, depression, anxiety, I began to wonder why he acted that way. In fact, I always knew he was a kind person at heart but he would always tell me that he had anger issues and trouble controlling them since childhood.
Rather than be annoyed at his behavior, I tried to understand what he meant. For a while, I couldn’t understand. But slowly I began to see that even my friend did not understand why he would always have trouble controlling his anger and being impatient.
Research has shown that childhood trauma in life has a highly detrimental effect on people in their later stages of life.
Dr. Jessica Dym Bartlett completed her Ph.D. on Child Study and Human Development and wrote on Child Trends:
“Children who are exposed to traumatic life events are at significant risk for developing serious and long-lasting problems across multiple areas of development. Children exposed to several different forms of trauma are more likely to exhibit anxiety, depression, anger, aggression, dissociation”
Source: https://www.childtrends.org/publications/how-to-implement-trauma-informed-care-to-build-resilience-to-childhood-trauma
I began to understand that my friend needed support and help. Almost all symptoms matched with him. The trauma that he had faced in childhood had a severe impact on his relationships with others in his later stages of life. Even though my friend would not understand and would sometimes exhibit negative behavior, I could tell that there needed to be significant changes made if he was to recover properly and start to heal.
I knew that my friend was not intentionally misbehaving but rather he was not able to cope with the highly stressful situations or environments.
Dr. Barret suggested that we follow the 4 Rs in order for us to understand those who have been affected by childhood trauma:
Realize the widespread nature of childhood trauma and how it impacts the child’s emotional, social, behavioral, cognitive, brain, and physical development, as well as their mental health.
Recognize the symptoms of trauma, including how trauma reactions (i.e., symptoms of posttraumatic stress) vary by gender, age, type of trauma, or setting.
Respond by making necessary adjustments, in their own language and behavior.
Resist re-traumatization by actively shaping children’s environments to avoid triggers
Often, individuals who had been subjected to childhood trauma, cannot cope properly in their environments. But if the community took a proper approach in understanding them, we would be able to make them feel loved, understood, and valued.
