What happens to us as children can stay with us for the rest of our lives. The trauma from early childhood adverse experiences can linger with us long after we’ve grown up. There are many different kinds of adverse experiences. At the Trauma and Beyond Center ® our trauma-informed therapy can help you identify and work with the underlying issues that come from these traumas so that you can live your life how you want to live it.
Early Childhood Adverse Experiences Defined
The most common types of adverse experiences involve physical harm or just the threat of physical harm. This harm can take many forms, such as domestic violence, physical abuse, sexual abuse, or even just exposure to violence in their community. However, “adverse experiences” aren’t limited to just physical harm. For example, it can include food insecurity, deep poverty, limited access to a caregiver, no access to a caregiver or even neglect.
How Adverse Experiences Affect Mental Health
Studies show that kids who deal with this kind of adversity are more likely to eventually develop mental health problems. In fact, kids who have been exposed to these kinds of adversity can be as much as four times as likely to have mental health problems. It’s even been found in other studies that roughly “one-third of all mental disorders worldwide are attributive to exposure to adverse childhood experiences.” That’s a genuinely staggering number, which shows just how difficult it can be to overcome these traumas even when one is no longer a child.
How We Help With These Traumas
Often treatment providers treat only symptoms. For example, if you have an addiction to alcohol or drugs, the focus may be on the addiction and nothing more. Even if a patient is able to stop drinking or using drugs for a period of time, in all likelihood, they’ll return to their addictions without having addressed the underlying roots of trauma that initially led to the harmful methods of symptom reduction strategy such as abusing alcohol or drugs. At Trauma and Beyond Center ® we go beyond treating the symptoms. Trauma-informed therapy is about treating the underlying traumas. Our expertly trained and licensed professionals use a variety of methodologies to help resolve trauma. By treating the trauma at the root of the symptoms your life can become more of what you would want it to be.
The Next Step
Having been through adversity as a child doesn’t have to mean that you’ll be forever defined by it. Schedule a free consultation with us at Trauma and Beyond ® so that we can find the best therapy for you at (818) 651-0725.
