Childhood trauma comes with many negative effects, and plenty of them never go away, even when you grow up. You have picked up a lot of negative strategies and coping mechanisms from your childhood that continues to manifest themselves to this day.
Childhood is a very important time in our development. It’s when we learn about interpersonal relationships and how to effectively manage our emotions. Childhood trauma can greatly disrupt this experience, and as a result, people may not adequately learn how to manage their emotions or negotiate interpersonal relationships.
Consequently, when anger occurs, people with a history of childhood trauma may not know how to effectively control those emotions, resulting in strong anger impulses and destructive behaviors. Anger, specifically explosive and powerful anger also, rage. But why? Here are a few reasons that will better help you to understand why you are the way that you are.
You Think Rage Works
When you have grown up in traumatic situations, your concept of how it is best to work together with other people is messed up. Children study their parents, guardians, and other people who surround them and learn from them. If you were raised around people who harmed you, screamed at you, or generally raged around you then you have probably taken on their mannerisms and behaviors as your own.
You Are Full Of Guilt
Many who have faced trauma in childhood begin to internalize the words and actions of those who traumatized them. They might even blame themselves for what happened to them, and if you are this person know that you are not alone.
According to mentalhealcarecenter.org,
Childhood trauma chips away at a child’s stability and sense of self, undermining self-worth and often staying with the child into adulthood. This trauma can also impact a person into adulthood as they experience feelings of shame and guilt, feeling disconnected and unable to relate to others, trouble controlling emotions, heightened anxiety and depression, anger. Let’s take the case of complex trauma that occurs directly to the child and disrupts their sense of safety and stability. If a child is abused emotionally, physically or sexually, by someone close to them, often a caregiver, it can condition the way the child forms attachments later in life. They may start to see protectors and caretakers through a different filter, no longer trusting those individuals to keep them safe or even “care about them.” Once a child’s sense of identity is fractured, it takes years of work to rebuild those broken pieces and have them regain trust.
You Consider Yourself To Be A Victim
Your childhood robbed you of many things in life, and knowledge of the ways you were hurt can be enough to make any person feel anger. You know you were the victim of this situation, and you are full of anger and rage towards it.
You Have Not Learned Positive Stress Management
As a child, you should have been brought up in a healthy environment in which you learn to regulate your emotions and manage stress. But your trauma might mean that you never got to know these things, and the lack of guidance in these situations can manifest in a lot of heavy emotions.
Stress management is crucial when it comes to anger management, and many people who have unhealthy levels and expressions of anger have a rage bubble sitting below the surface waiting to come out. Many people with trauma wind up with chronic stress, and it is pretty easy to see how this can become anger for many people.
You Are Burnt Out
Emotional burnout consists of the development of apathy, you stop caring, and the things around you that demand your care or emotional empathy tire you out further. This could cause you to say hurtful things or lash out on the people around you.
Survival Response
Survival responses are common in people who experienced a traumatic childhood. To maintain your sanity as a child, you found methods to survive and your brain did what it needed to do to protect you at the time. Anger can sometimes give you the motivation to keep going, it can help you stay strong in the face of injustice and it is less painful to experience than sadness and fear.
Moving Forward
Childhood trauma, whether it was intentional or unintentional, can have lasting effects on every aspect of adulthood. Seeking treatment is never too late.
It would be ideal for individuals to undergo therapy in childhood or adolescence; however, seeking professional treatment in adulthood can help prevent some of these long-term adverse effects.
Acknowledging that you are a victim and taking back your control can be the first step in overcoming your painful past.