Having to live with the lasting impact of trauma is no easy task. However, dealing with the effects of complex trauma can be much more challenging to navigate.
While many people understand the basics of trauma, complex trauma is just that — more complex, and sometimes difficult to understand for those who haven’t experienced it. Complex trauma is unique in that it occurs when there is repeated or prolonged interpersonal trauma rather than just a single event.
It’s not uncommon for people to experience complex trauma in childhood through things like abuse or neglect, or even witnessing traumatic events regularly.
The impact of complex trauma can affect you for years, leading to difficulties forming healthy relationships, struggles with emotional regulation, and even difficulties seeing yourself in a positive light.
Let’s do a deep dive into complex trauma, further exploring what makes it unique. We’ll also cover what you can do if you’ve been dealing with it for years.
What Causes Complex Trauma?
Going through a single traumatic experience is bad enough. However, again, complex trauma occurs when prolonged trauma is experienced. This can happen at any stage of life, but it’s often associated with childhood.
Maybe you experienced abuse or neglect as a child, making it impossible to form a secure attachment. That kind of life, even from a young age, can impact nearly everything about you.
Of course, complex trauma can occur in adulthood, too. If you’re in an abusive relationship, an unsafe living situation, or even experiencing something like consistent threats or discrimination, it can be traumatizing simply to get through the day.
How Does It Impact Development?
If you do experience complex trauma as a child, it can affect developmental skills from an early age. It’s difficult to form a healthy, stable sense of self when you’ve experienced that kind of trauma. It’s also likely to change your view of relationships.
What does that mean for you as an adult? You might struggle with low self-esteem, fear, guilt, shame, and negative self-talk.
When it comes to relationships, the trauma you experienced can manifest itself in a couple of different ways. Some people become extremely codependent. They need constant reassurance from a partner that the relationship is fine and that they won’t be abandoned.
Others keep people at arm’s length. You might not want to get close to anyone because you’re worried about getting hurt. You find it hard to trust people, and you tend to be more closed off. Either of these characteristics can affect your relationships and ultimately contribute to more isolation, which can make your symptoms worse.
Things like self-harm, addiction, and paranoia are fairly common with complex trauma, and exacerbating those things in any way can be extremely dangerous.
How to Treat Complex Trauma
The first step in treating complex trauma is recognizing what it is and how it’s affecting your life. You don’t have to do that on your own. Going through therapy for complex trauma is often the best way to start your healing journey.
Therapy will help you get to the root of the issue, digging deeper to find where your trauma began. While it’s not an easy journey, it’s a necessary one.
A therapist will also give you the strategies needed to overcome the effects of trauma. You’ll start to combat negative self-talk, practice healthy relationship patterns, and rediscover who you are without the weight of your experiences holding you back.
Trauma therapy should just be one aspect of your self-care routine. It’s time to start showing yourself kindness and compassion.
The trauma you experienced wasn’t your fault, and you don’t have to carry it around with you forever. If you’re ready to start healing for good, reach out today to set up an appointment.
