How Are Childhood Trauma and Chronic Illness Linked?

Have you ever wondered how events that took place in the past can have an impact on your future?

When you're young, you don't have as many choices to make as when you're an adult. Your parents or caregivers make a lot of the choices for you. As you approach adulthood, you start to make decisions like choosing the sports you want to play, the meals you want to eat, the college you want to attend, the city you want to live in, who you want to date, your career path, and more.

Each choice and action you take has an outcome. Even the choices you don't make, the ones your caregivers made for you, have an impact on you and who you are today.

Positive and negative experiences shape you as a person, as well as some of the illnesses you may develop throughout your adulthood.

How are childhood trauma and chronic illness linked?

The Risks of Childhood Trauma

Childhood trauma includes events like abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction. These include things like emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional and physical neglect, mental illness, violence, divorce, or substance abuse.

The research that was done showed that ongoing stress from trauma in childhood can lead to an ongoing state of fight, flight, or freeze response. An Adverse Childhood Event (ACE) can occur when a child experiences a traumatic event that threatens their safety or stability. This type of event can lead to a number of problems in their mental and physical health, even in their future.

When children experience trauma, they are more likely to be at risk for developing things like cancer, chronic lung disease, liver disease, and heart disease. Individuals who experienced childhood trauma are also at a higher risk of developing anxiety, depression, insomnia, chronic pain, autoimmune diseases, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Behavioral impacts of childhood trauma include overeating, hypersexuality, smoking, and substance abuse. Many individuals who experience trauma at a young age use these unhealthy mechanisms as a way to cope with any negative emotions they may be holding onto.

The Link Between Childhood Trauma and Chronic Illness

Chronic illness is defined as a long-term health condition that may not have a cure. It's an often misunderstood part of trauma.

Years of research have linked childhood dream to an increased risk of developing chronic illness. The stress that an individual experiences when going through the trauma they endured as a child, as well as navigating through it as they grow up and become an adult, can have a huge impact on the body and the brain.

The amount of stress that the individual faces has the ability to interfere with their development. This can cause changes in their immune, neural, and hormonal systems. Over time, especially if left untreated, this can also lead to changes in their internal systems like the immune, nervous, and endocrine systems.

Next Steps

If you or a loved one are showing signs of chronic illness due to childhood trauma, finding relief is possible.

Your chronic illness may make you feel like you're alone and stuck with the pain you're experiencing from here on out, but there are ways that you can help cope with the thoughts, feelings, and emotions you're experiencing. A trained and licensed therapist will work with you to find the root cause of your emotional and physical pain. They'll also be able to provide you with coping mechanisms during your therapy sessions and in between appointments.

Don't delay in getting the help you or a loved one need and deserve. Reach out to me today to set up a consultation for trauma therapy.