For psychotherapists working with people who struggle with the
legacies of an abusive and/or traumatic childhood, it is no news that people
are affected way past their childhood years. It’s good to see that research is
coming to the party and provides scientific evidence for the long-term
struggles people have.
"The immune system is not preset at birth…The cells are there, but how they will develop and how well they'll be regulated is very much influenced by your early environment and the type of rearing you have." We know from trauma research the same to be true for people’s self-capacities involved in distress tolerance and emotion regulation.
Indeed, even if the life circumstances improve people show that early childhood stress has a negative impact on their learning capability, on their behaviours, and on their immune system. Thus they are disadvantages with regard to their future careers, to how they integrate into society, and with regard to their health status.
Hello Asking and Lisa - and others who want to know more about this! Sorry for not responding earlier ... we have an extraordinary hot summer and my good old brain is on slow motion - indeed very slow motion! :( . I browsed through my blogs and thought I must have written about this before, but had to find out: I didn't.
Of course you can recover from childhood stresses of all sorts. However, its a pretty complex process. Instead of writing a quick response here, I have already started a comprehensive post that hopefully is finished by the end of today.
Take care Gudrun
Posted by: Gudrun Frerichs | February 13, 2009 at 07:56 AM
So how does one recover? ... Are they all doomed ... How on earth to resolve and find peace?
These are my questions also. Would be very interested in answer. Thank you.
Posted by: asking | February 10, 2009 at 11:58 AM
So how does one recover? I know so many people who are more than willing to 'do their work' and yet they can't seem to move beyond the imprint of their childhood trauma.
It continues to impact their life in some manner -poor health, troubled relationships, difficulty in the job sector.
Are they all doomed to struggle? Small triggers spark over the top negative responses. Or large troubles seem to follow them around like a dark cloud over their head.
How on earth to resolve and find peace?
Posted by: Lisa Tate | February 02, 2009 at 02:28 PM