7 Traits Common Among Adults Who Experienced Childhood Trauma

May 29, 2018

While degree and intensity may vary from person to person, trauma experienced in youth can stay with us long into adulthood and affect our behaviors, coping mechanisms, and personality. Such traumas may be from abandonment, abuse, death, or other such impactful events experienced at a young, impressionable age. 

A study published in Psychology Today recently explored the adult brain of those who’d experienced a childhood trauma, finding that higher degrees of early childhood trauma become encoded within the temporal structure of the brain and thus impact all our actions and experiences in present time either consciously or subconsciously. 
 

In a paper titled, “Childhood Trauma, the Neurobiology of Adaptation & Use-dependent Development of the Brain: How Stats become Traits,” by Dr. Bruce D. Perry, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine, neurodevelopment of infant and childhood trauma is explored. 

In short explanation of the research paper, brains are designed to sense, perceive, process, store, and act on external and internal environmental info, ultimately working together for a single purpose - survival. Of course, young brains are more malleable and impressionable than their mature counterparts. Neural pathways, or networks, are formed if the stimuli, or experiences, continue or are perceived as crucial for survival. This is what forms our response patterns to stressors that we carry with us into adulthood. 

Research has shown several conscious and subconscious characteristics are common in adults who’ve experienced trauma at young ages. Keep in mind that everyone isn’t going to outwardly profess the characteristics in a showy manner, experience them all together, or experience them to the same degree. 
 

This characteristic can manifest itself in a variety of forms. Some may experience recurring crippling panic attacks. Some may worry incessantly, regardless of whether there’s merit or not. Some may simply overly respond when presented with stressful stimuli.

In any case, the person finds it hard to impossible to process and respond to stressful stimuli in a healthy way. They may see the world as one big source of danger, resulting in being extra jumpy, vigilant, cautious, panicked, stressed, suspecting, pessimistic, and/or distrusting. 
 

Anxiety and a heightened sense of fear often play off each other. The mind associates certain sensory perceptions, whether that be a visual, sound, taste, touch, or smell, with the trauma experienced in youth. These can trigger emotional responses, such as fear, even though there’s not an actual threat present.

Many victims of an alcoholic parent’s abuse can smell alcohol, for example, and relive the fear of enduring the trauma. Such associations are difficult, but not impossible, to break so that fear and anxiety from memories can be quelled. 
 

Fight or flight is the most basic primitive survival mechanism ingrained in human biology. In the presence of a life-threatening entity, we either run or stand our ground in a fight. It’s a defense mechanism designed to only be triggered in the presence of rising levels of stress and anxiety hormones when our brain perceives a severe threat.

With trauma victims, the fight or flight mechanism may be constantly in the on position by viewing almost anything and everything as a threat. In seldom having carefree, fun, relaxing moments, the body and mind are constantly under an influx of tension and stress. 

 

Trauma can transform a life striving to be its best version into one that is complacent with mediocrity. Life can become more about avoidance of anything that might lead to a similar trauma, making the victim unwilling to take necessary risks in life, than it is about propelling yourself forward to success.

Even if you’re able to check all the boxes necessary for self-reliance, you’ll likely find you rarely to never make any choice with unknown or potentially unfavorable outcomes if you examine your history of choices in life. Ultimately, this often means a life of averages and never realizing your full potential. 
 

Be it in the physical or emotional sense, many trauma victims live a reclusive life. They shut out the world and hide from both their own and any received sympathy, judgments, and/or blame. Some find it difficult to impossible to allow emotional connections with other people; instead, they hide their feelings, thoughts, talents, and vulnerability in a tightly guarded safe. Others may experience social anxiety, whereby they fear physically being around others. 
 

Passive-aggressive personalities are often defined as unassertive. That’s a very narrowed viewpoint that may be better explained as a lack of conscious, intended assertiveness. Trauma victims typically have an array of emotions, including blame, anger, fear, helplessness, resentment, frustration, and anxiety. If these aren’t asserted through healthy outlets and resolved, they fester in repression and denial.

Eventually, they find an indirect way out, though. It’s a self-deception trick of the mind. The person thinks they’re avoiding the negative and aggressive emotions and thoughts, but in reality, these very things are coming through by the deeper meaning of words, words and actions not being congruent, and failing to actively follow through with verbal obligations.

It’s basically a disconnect between what you say and what you feel and do. 
 

Some trauma victims go on to inflict trauma upon others. Some self-victimize through physical manifestations, like cutting and eating disorders, and mental manifestations, such as feelings of worthlessness and depression. Many begin to mentally embrace victimology - that is they’ve been treated like they’re helpless for so long that they begin to be and create helplessness within multiple facets of their own life for others to solve or comfort.

In any case, the common theme here is in safety, specifically what makes you feel safest as you traverse life. For some, safe is embracing the victim status. 


Did you experience a trauma in your childhood? Which characteristics have you exhibited? How have they negatively impacted your life? How are you managing the characteristics? Tell us your story, ask a question, leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you. 

Our content is created to the best of our knowledge, yet it is of general nature and cannot in any way substitute an individual consultation with your doctor. Your health is important to us!