Childhood maltreatment and childhood trauma affects 1 in 7 Australian adults over 18 years old according to the 2021-2022 Personal Safety Survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Not only are the statistics staggering. One of the first studies of it kind released in the late 1990’s demonstrated the profound impact of childhood maltreatment and childhood trauma on lifespan, adult health, and adult mental health.
“We have known for a long time that there is a bi-directional relationship between our childhood experiences and our adult physical and mental health.”
Why does this matter? And why do we need to recognise it?
Addressing childhood maltreatment and childhood trauma is critical in breaking maladaptive patterns of generational trauma. As children, our brains are highly malleable and we absorb everything like sponge, therefore, what we feel, experience, see, are told, and the belief systems we are raised in become that of our own. This is through no fault of our own as children because we do not know any different. Much of this blog will be talking about childhood maltreatment and childhood trauma in a general context, it is important to highlight there are several types of adverse childhood experiences that are considered as childhood trauma, please know that healing is possible.
What is Childhood Trauma?
See our blog on Trauma here. As we know trauma is a subjective experience and what affects one child or individual in one way, may have the opposite effect on another. That said, maladaptive patterns of coping as a result of childhood maltreatment and childhood trauma can look like perfectionism, hyper-independence, highly strung, rigidity, emotionally blunted or absent, dysfunctional relationships, substance abuse/misuse, self-harm, suicidal ideation, strong moral compass, or strong beliefs. Childhood maltreatment and childhood trauma are events occurring under the age of 18 years old, typically external to the control of a child that cause an emotional response, psychological harm, and biological stress response, simultaneously. That event, series of events, the memory, the emotions and the feelings are then permanently imprinted in the child’s developing brain and their nervous system. There are may types of childhood maltreatment and trauma; this is not a definitive list but some of the more common ones are listed below:
- Abuse (verbal, emotional, physical, sexual)
- Neglect (physical, emotional)
- Household dysfunction (substance misuse, financial strain, mental illness, absent caregivers)
- Domestic violence, community violence (witnessing, hearing, being physically involved with)
- Parentification
- High or unattainable expectations
- Comparison between siblings/favouritisim
These are degrees of trauma, but it is important to know that trauma is still trauma. Trauma itself can vary from single episode events known as acute trauma to chronic trauma which is trauma that occurs over a period of time. Complex trauma can be defined as multiple traumatic events often occurring in relationships, repeat experiences of neglect or abuse by caregivers. Lastly, secondary trauma or vicarious trauma, this occurs when individuals have a trauma response in response to hearing or seeing a close relation go through a traumatic experience.
How Childhood Trauma Influences Our Perception
One of the most prevalent studies published to date on the relationship of childhood trauma and leading causes of death in adults was conducted by Felitti and his colleagues in 1998. The landmark ACEs study found a graded relationship between the number of ACEs an individual had and the status of their health later in life, particularly chronic health diseases such as cancers, heart disease, lung disease, and liver disease. Further, they found adults who had an ACE score of 4< had a 4-12x increase likelihood of experiencing alcohol abuse, drug abuse, depression, and suicidality; a 2-4x increased chance of smoking and poor self-rated health with a 1.4-1.6x increase in physical inactivity and obesity (Felitti et al., 1998).
Moreover, brain imaging research has demonstrated structural brain differences in children and adults who experienced adverse childhood experiences, childhood trauma, or childhood maltreatment compared to their counterparts with zero adverse childhood experiences.
A study by Buimer et al. (2022), compared 1,184 brain scans of children aged between 8 and 11 years with reported adverse childhood events (ACEs). On average, the children had ACE scores of 2. The brain imaging showed that children exposed to substance abuse in the home environment had larger brain structures that are involved in working memory, spatial processing, impulse control, urgency to move, development of literacy, phonological processing, attention, reward participation, decision making and emotion. Whereas, the brain imaging of children exposed to violence had lower memory performance.
Part of you may wonder why it could be a bad thing to have larger brain structures in those regions, the problem is the brain develops in particular ways and that neural plasticity is what allows us to learn in a more linear way as we grow. If our brains are being forced to develop beyond our chronological age and academic skills due to stress, that means we could be increasing the risk of these brain regions not developing properly, ie., neuron connections. Neurons that wire together fire together, what we don’t use we lose.
Further, a study by Chang et al. (2023) examined brain imaging from 108 young adults aged 19-24 years, they found ACE’s negatively effects the grey matter in all the same regions as the study above, impacting our higher order functions, executive functioning, memory, and emotion. Thus, leading to general decreases in psychological resilience. Read more here.
Brain imaging studies are important to show the structural impact of ACE’s and provides tangible evidence that we must make change.
Felitti’s research demonstrated the link between ACE’s and poor health in adulthood, we have evidence supporting the physiological impact of childhood experience and maltreatment, we also have evidence for the psychological impact. Childhood trauma can shape our belief systems, behaviours, how we show up in relationships, our view of safety, trust, and distorts our self-worth. Childhood trauma shows up not just as mental health challenges or physical health challenges, but maladaptive patterns of coping and emotional dysregulation.
Don’t be discouraged, there is help available. Many psychologists are advocating to shift the narrative in treatment and address root cause of dysregulation, more often than not it stems from childhood maltreatment.
The Free Childhood Trauma Test
This is known as the ACEs test, I have provided a link below. I want to caution readers for two things,
- if you have not seen an ACEs test before and you know in yourself that you have unprocessed childhood experiences or childhood maltreatment, be aware that this questionnaire may disrupt uncomfortable memories, emotions, and feelings.
- Your ACE score does not provide any diagnosis or affirmation of mortality, longevity, or achievement. ACE scores should not be normalised as a badge of honour, but something to be aware of and take to your trauma psychologist to help you work through.
Approach your result with compassion, an open mind and seek support from your local psychologist – you can find some amazing ones here on the AAPi psychology directory depending on your geographical location.
If this post has been helpful to you, please let us know we always encourage feedback, otherwise if you have any questions – you can contact our administration team here: admin@consciousmindcentre.com.au.
References:
Bruimer (2022). Adverse childhood experiences and fronto-subcortical structures in the developing brain. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.955871/full
Chang et al. (2023). The Mediating Role of Brain Structural Imaging Markers in Connecting Adverse Childhood Experiences and Psychological Resilience. https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9067/10/2/365
Felitti et al. (1998). Relationship of Childhood Abuse and Household Dysfunction to Many of the Leading Causes of Death in Adults: The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0749379798000178
