ABSTRACT
This paper examines the effects of childhood trauma and mental abuse on people. It explores the different aspects or manifestations of trauma and abuse impacts by digging into the various dimensions, such as cognitive, mental health, behavioral patterns, physical health, and emotional effects. It starts by defining trauma and abuse and correlates the two in terms of their long-term consequences on the aforementioned aspects. The literature review suggests that childhood trauma and abuse are associated with physical, mental, emotional, behavioral, and physical health that continues into adulthood. The long-term consequences of these effects are examined alongside the importance of appreciating the protective factors. Simultaneously, the paper suggests that whereas protective factors are important in dealing with the long-term outcome of trauma and abuse, consideration should be given to their side effects on the individual’s health. Finally, its conclusion suggests that embracing short-term measures is good for dealing with outcomes of trauma and abuses; however, holistic intervention, such as integrating other intervening techniques, is crucial to addressing the problems it incurs.
Introduction
Children are classified as part of the vulnerable population in societies across cultures, economic backgrounds, and ethnicities. Unfortunately, their lived experiences in the country reveal a lack of protection of these precious categories whi, which leads to long-term future complexities in health, social, psychological, and general wellbeing. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), one in every seven U.S. children has undergone abuse or neglect in the previous year. This represents the tip of the iceberg since many cases of abuse remain unreported. The long-term adverse implications associated with trauma and mental abuse cut across different dimensions with a core foundation of crippling ordinary functioning and wellbeing even into adulthood. This paper examines childhood trauma and mental health abuse and how their manifestations reveal various adverse effects in cognitive, mental, social, and other forms.
Firstly, trauma refers to witnessing or experiencing a broad array of traumatic experiences. Such includes living with substance-abusing parents, domestic violence, or any other experience that does not correspond to everyday situations and expectations, thereby resulting in a feeling of unhappiness and stress. Contrarily, mental abuse pertains to behaviors and actions of parents or significant figures that infuse negative mental effects on a child. The cumulative exposure of children to such environments or experiences exerts severe implications on people, which include the following.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Emotional Effects
Anxiety and Depression
Childhood trauma and mental abuse are associated with anxiety and depression. The interwoven connection between anxiety, depression, and childhood trauma is shaped by the neurological response to such negative stimuli (Downey & Crummy, 2022). Continued exposure of children to negative stressors such as abuse and traumatic events results in extreme stress hormones transmission in the body as a response mechanism. Repeated exposure implies that the neurological system conveys the signals to the brain to inform it about the negative stressors. However, the over-activation of this readiness enhances the risk of depressive and anxiety disorders resulting from heightened cortisol levels (Downey & Crummy, 2022). As a result, people with a perceived history of trauma and abuse remain alerted to post-trauma symptoms, which include depression and anxiety.
Low Self-Esteem
Various studies have linked traumatic events and mental abuse with a low sense of self-esteem. According to Dye (2018), negative name-calling, persistent negative criticism, and emotional abuse in children diminish their sense of self-worth and confidence. Additionally, children demand positive reinforcement and affirmation for their emotional development (Downey & Crummy, 2022). Unfortunately, such key ingredients for emotional development are missing in cases of mental abuse and exposure to traumatic episodes. The ripple effect is that people grow into adulthood with a feeling of deficiency in their self-esteem due to missed positive reinforcement. As a result, their confidence is interfered with, and so are their social and interpersonal skills.
Behavioral Effects
The impact of childhood trauma and cognitive abuse is witnessed across the behavioral patterns of the affected individuals. Such behaviors include;
Self-Destructive Behavior
In order to cope with mental and emotional pain, many people with a history of childhood maltreatment and traumatic episodes are more inclined to indulge in self-destructive behavioral patterns. One common behavioral pattern is substance and drug abuse. According to a study by American Addiction Centers, about 70% of children receiving treatment for substance abuse have a history of trauma exposure (Moore & Armstrong, 2023). Therefore, indulgence in substance and drug abuse is seen as a way of escaping the painful reality of their existence by soothing the emotional and mental stressors. In addition, research indicates a high occurrence of people who have undergone trauma with criminal behavior. The correlation between these two aspects emanates from the fact that interpersonal trauma and childhood abuse promote antisocial behavior or deviance, which results in a high likelihood of criminal performance (Dye, 2018). Thus, the trauma and emotional abuse in adulthood lay the foundation for destructive antisocial behaviors such as drug and substance abuse and crime.
Lack of Trust in People
The ability to trust people emanates from positive cognition that the people around the individuals make them feel safe and, therefore, forge emotional and physical connections with them. However, childhood maltreatment destroys this critical factor of establishing and maintaining positive, healthy relationships by forging negative cognition that diminishes trust in people since the survivors of abuse and trauma associate see everybody with the capacity to harm them (Downey & Crummy, 2022). As a result, they remain reluctant to be part of any trustworthy relationship for fear of being harmed or betrayed.
Self-Isolation
Trauma and abuse inherently deteriorate an individual’s wellbeing and necessitate its victims to isolate. Self-isolation becomes a protective barrier from the devastating distressing events of the past, permitting them to find comfort in it (Strathearn et al., 2020). This is often characterized by withdrawal, whereby the victims do not want to be part of a collective group. However, whereas self-isolating behavior can be deemed as a protective factor, it comes at the detriment of failing to address an individual’s traumatic experience since they don’t confront their negative experiences.
Cognitive Impacts
Trauma has significant cognitive impacts, interfering with how people think, conceptualize themselves, and view the world. These impacts transcend into adulthood and exert different mental health effects.
Cognitive Distortion
Childhood maltreatment facilitates the development of cognitive distortions whereby people interpret events or circumstances negatively or in a distorted way. Cognitive distortion emanates from the internal mental filters that annex one event with the previous one, thereby increasing anxiety and biases (Strathearn et al., 2020). Simultaneously, since abuse and trauma leave a long-term negative imprint on the cognitive faculties of individuals, people with a history of abuse and trauma exposure are more predisposed to associate their present situation with their internal mental filters. This results in a negative interpretation of situations through overgeneralization or catastrophizing whi, which makes them feel protected from any unintended harm or damage.
Difficulty Concentration
Childhood trauma and mental abuse affect normal cognitive functions due to the alterations they leave in the nervous system through the consistent release of anti-stress hormones (Dye, 2018). The disruption of cognitive function affects concentration and memory, interfering with performance in different areas of an individual’s engagement. For instance, various studies link trauma-informed behaviors with low academic success largely due to the cognitive effects such as concentration problems caused by trauma and abuse (Carlson, 2019). In extrapolation, such interferences with concentration can be witnessed in different cognitive engagement domains.
Mental Health Impacts
Trauma and abuse exert long-term mental health disorders, which affect the normal functioning and wellbeing of people.
Post-traumatic stress Disorder (PTSD)
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, 15% of girls and 6% of boys experience PTSD resulting from traumatic events (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, n.d). The latter originates majorly from neglect and physical, sexual, and psychological abuses, with many going unreported. The occurrence of PTSD is characterized by the repeated re-experiencing of trauma in the mind and the need to avoid anything that re-enacts the traumatic episodes. Accordingly, PTSD produces other mental health disorders including depression, anxiety, and destructive behavior practices (Carlson, 2019). As a result, while mental health abuse emphasizes trauma, the ripple effects include other mental health problems that interfere with the normal functioning of the body.
Dissociation
As part of coping mechanisms, trauma survivors dissociate from reality by disconnecting a part of themselves, i.e., memory or thought, to protect their wellbeing. This unconscious strategy protects individuals from distress by removing them from environments or circumstances that would otherwise reintegrate their stressful past (Strathearn et al., 2020). However, dissociation has significant harmful consequences if it is not effectively implemented. For instance, it can disintegrate disintegrate families or social systems when one indiscriminately cuts people and things they need.
Similarly, it exerts a long-lasting effect on mental health and standard of life. Ideally, social support systems such as friends and families improve quality of life by offering members emotional and psychological support, especially in difficult moments (Downey & Crummy, 2022). However, by dissociating, the individual likelihood of experiencing loneliness and depression increases, which in turn affects their mental health.
Physical Health Effects
Trauma and abuse exhibit significant and long-term impacts on physical health, affecting different physiological functions.
Enhanced Risk of Chronic Health Diseases
Exposure to traumatic events and abuse in childhood does not affect only cognitive and emotional senses. Instead, its consistent occurrence affects physiological processes, hence physical health. For instance, children’s maltreatment and exposure to trauma have been found to increase the production of stress hormones such as cortisol (Dye, 2018). However, prolonged subjection to stress hormones improves the risk of stress-associated health conditions such as cardiovascular problems and metabolic disorders. The weakening of these physiological systems affects the general physical health of individuals.
Increased Unhealthy Life Choices
Research has found an intertwined connection between unhealthy life choices such as alcoholism, physical inactivity, and poor diet in children who have experienced trauma and abuse (Monnat & Chandler, 2015). Poor lifestyle choices such as lack of physical exercise or a balanced diet, though temporarily alleviate anxiety and depression, lead to physical health problems over time. As a result, childhood abuse and trauma lay the foundation for long-term physical health problems.
Conclusion
Childhood abuse and trauma exhibit various effects on individuals, ranging from emotional, behavioral, cognitive, mental, and physical health impacts. These short-term or long-term effects interfere with how people operate, conceive the world around them, and interact with others. Equally, while short-term measures focus on alleviating the conditions resulting from abuse and traumatic activities, they do not provide an absolute solution to such conditions. Thus, addressing the effects of childhood trauma and abuse requires the integration of a holistic program that will tackle both the short and long-lasting impacts of childhood trauma and abuse.
References
Carlson, P. (2019). Impact of adverse childhood experiences on academic achievement of school-aged learners.https://digitalcommons.csp.edu/teacher-education_masters/4/
Downey, C., & Crummy, A. (2022). The impact of childhood trauma on children’s wellbeing and adult behavior. European Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 6(1), 100237. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468749921000375
Dye, H. (2018). The impact and long-term effects of childhood trauma. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 28(3), 381-392. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10911359.2018.1435328
Monnat, S. M., & Chandler, R. F. (2015). Long‐term physical health consequences of adverse childhood experiences. The Sociological Quarterly, 56(4), 723-752.https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/tsq.12107
Moore, S., & Armstrong, L. (2023). Childhood Trauma and Substance Misuse. American Addiction Centers. https://americanaddictioncenters.org/blog/trauma-substance-abuse-treatment
Strathearn, L., Giannotti, M., Mills, R., Kisely, S., Najman, J., & Abajobir, A. (2020). Long-term cognitive, psychological, and health outcomes associated with child abuse and neglect. Pediatrics, 146(4). https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article-abstract/146/4/e20200438/79676
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (n.d). How common is PTSD in children and teens? U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/treat/specific/ptsd_child_teens.asp