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We humans have some interesting ways of dealing with trauma. Sometimes, we unconsciously decide to bury memories somewhere deep down for a long while. This repression tries to protect us from a painful past, but it’s not always an adaptive mechanism, with memories resurfacing later in life or driving automatic behaviors. By understanding and addressing repressed trauma, individuals can begin a journey of recovery and move forward.
What is Repressed Childhood Trauma?
Repressed childhood trauma is something that happens after a distressing experience, or series of experiences, whether that’s physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, neglect, or witnessing violence.
This underlying condition of repression can lead to difficulties later in life. For example, a child survivor of abuse might have a sense of great discomfort with some triggers without necessarily understanding why.
Repression is temporary; memories will resurface as flashbacks or even dreams, often affecting relationships or psychological health. While this survival mechanism lets you move past intolerable experiences, it is less adaptive for adults, feeding cycles that hinder healing.
Luckily, there are plenty of experts, like psychologists or counselors with a masters degree in mental health counseling online, or similar training. Together with these specialists, it’s possible to explore these hidden memories safely, process their emotional weight, and develop strategies to rebuild a sense of self.
Memory as a Mechanism
Of course, memory is not the only aspect of trauma that matters, but it plays a big role in how we store, or don’t store, certain memories. Childhood repressed trauma, like abuse or neglect, often leads to dissociation, where the brain suppresses long-term memories to cope with overwhelming distress. There is some evidence that the hippocampus and associated areas become impaired by chronic stress, so we struggle to ‘encode,’ or store stressful experiences, resulting in fragmented or inaccessible recollections.
On the other hand, there is a part of the brain, the amygdala, that heightens emotional memory. This could be why repressed memories may manifest as emotional or physical symptoms in adulthood, disrupting relationships or self-perception without you necessarily knowing why.
However, this is not a certainty, and there are big debates in the field of repressed memories as to whether, how, and why they exist.
Short-term recall, like remembering a phone number momentarily, may also be indirectly affected, as trauma’s stress can impair working memory and attention during distressing moments. However, the core impact still lies in long-term memory gaps, where childhood events remain buried, unconsciously shaping behaviors and emotional responses.
Emotional and Psychological Signs in Adulthood
Repressed memories are obviously difficult to pick up on, and some of us will go our whole lives without even realizing we have them, however, there are some tried and tested ways of spotting a repressed memory:
Uneasiness: The Sixth Sense
Often, individuals with a history of trauma will feel uneasy in certain places, which is totally logical. We have a unique way of encoding locations into memory, one that is closely linked to the emotional part of remembering.
Attachment
Our attachment styles play a larger role in how we interact with those around us, and childhood trauma has a tendency to cause maladaptive attachment styles to form. You may find it very easy to quickly get intensely attached to people you meet before fully knowing them, or quite the opposite.
Exhausting Situations
That sense of uneasiness can become a persistent symptom of repressed trauma, driven by an overactive stress response, still running in overdrive to protect you from perceived danger. The trouble is that most of us do not spend our time in dangerous situations, and those with childhood trauma may have been safe for years.
Of course, there are many other, broader ways these emotions can manifest, for example, anxiety and trauma are closely linked through the stress response, however, anxiety could be a symptom of a broad spectrum of issues.
How Trauma Can Affect Relationships
While it is not always obvious on the surface, repressed trauma plays a large role in our relationships. The research shows that a large proportion of those who experience childhood abuse will also experience abuse in their adult relationships. So why do so many of us repeat the patterns of childhood? Well, a lot of it comes back to attachment styles; in a healthy relationship, both parties trust, communicate, and show mutual empathy. This allows everyone to freely share needs and emotions while honoring boundaries. The trouble is we base our relationships on role models, particularly our parents, and if they aren’t a great example, it takes a lot of energy and understanding to learn what is.
Seeking Help and Starting the Healing Process
Luckily, there is a silver lining in all this. The second you understand and acknowledge that repressed trauma exists and could be at the root of current problems, you can begin to address the very heart of the problem.
Therapies like Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral (TF-CBT) have been specially designed to address past trauma through conversation and personal exploration. Techniques like hypnotherapy, used by early psychologists, can be helpful, as well as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).
The bottom line is that treatments are available, and many of them work well for a range of traumas, but it takes two to tango, and a whole lot of self-reflection to understand what exactly is going on.