Psychologist reveals how childhood trauma can show up in adulthood

A psychologist has revealed 14 ways childhood trauma can show up in adulthood, including a lack of self-confidence to make decisions.

Dr Lalitaa Suglani, a Birmingham-based chartered psychologist, shared the information in a to post on Instagram, where he has more than 110,000 followers.

In the post, she said that experiencing childhood trauma while growing up can have a “lasting impact and can carry over into adulthood; your relationships, your career and how you navigate everyday life.’

Dr. Lalitaa added that childhood trauma “can be subtle and nuanced, or even so routine that it seems almost normal.”

Birmingham-based certified psychologist Dr Lalitaa Suglani has revealed how experiencing childhood trauma while growing up can have a significant impact on the rest of your life (file photo)

She explained: “Knowing how trauma has shaped their lives can be difficult, but understanding what happened can offer a path to healing and inner peace.”

She continued: ‘Healing is a process and it looks different for everyone.

‘It’s not about pointing fingers and blaming our attachments, but perhaps developing self-awareness and understanding and then making choices that meet your needs.

“Things that can help are identifying your unmet needs, understanding anger, managing yourself, creating habits of self-care, using your emotions as a guidance system, and identifying what you need to calm down in the current moment.”

Listing the 14 ways childhood trauma can show up in adulthood in her post, Dr. Lalitaa began by striving to be perfect and overthinking everything.

She then added to the list being afraid of failing and blaming or ashamed of her past choices and mistakes.

According to the psychologist, other ways that childhood trauma can show up in adulthood include worrying too much about what others will think of you and not trusting yourself to make decisions.

Other ways you included in your post were suffering from constant negative self-talk that you believe to be true, as well as struggling with self-pity and self-forgiveness.

Dr. Lalitaa also added constantly criticizing and hard on yourself, and seeking external validation to feel accepted to her list.

The final forms included in the summary of 14 were struggling with always feeling anxious, being hypersensitive to criticism from others, and being afraid of change and uncertainty.

Finally, she said, other ways that childhood trauma can show up in adulthood is believing that you’re not worthy and never good enough, and finding it hard to accept compliments.

Making an important point in the title of the post, the psychologist added a personal message.

She wrote: “I went through life not realizing that my appearance in the world was a direct consequence of my childhood trauma, as I never recognized it as ‘trauma’ and that is why it is so important to understand your past.”

Many people responded to the post, sharing their experiences with the signs the psychologist had talked about.

People took to the comments section to share their feelings about the signs described in the post, writing: ‘Wow, I said yes to every one of these!’

Another agreed, adding: “That hits home.”

And another commenter wrote: “Your caption is very helpful Lalita and yes childhood trauma can be subtle and nuanced.”

However, another respondent shared a more optimistic message, revealing: ‘So nice to read this list and be able to say, ‘no more!’ to most of them and, “hmm…sometimes!” to a couple doing the work has set me free, thank you for these posts which have been an integral part of my growth.’

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