1. Overcoming Childhood Trauma to Live a Better
Life
January 7, 2013
| Last Updated on Tuesday, 07 May, 2013 15:11
Trauma can be inflicted at any age, but during childhood it seems to be easier to inflict. Maybe it’s
because as a child, your ability to influence the world around you is more limited than an adults.
Maybe it’s because your psyche doesn’t have all the desensitization that comes from being alive
longer. For whatever reason, childhood trauma is easily inflicted and can be incredibly debilitating if
not dealt with correctly.
Incidents From Childhood
Incidents from childhood can shape and alter who we are as people and how we interact with the world
around us. A child who was abused might become distrustful and hateful, or they could become a
people pleaser or a victim because they think they deserve that abuse. Trauma can affect people in
ways they can’t even imagine. It could be something the person doesn’t even remember as a adult. It
may not even have seemed like a big thing at the time, but it can slowly grow in your subconscious and
start to affect your behavior without you realizing it. An example being the child whose family gets
into a car accident when he is very young.
No one is injured and neither party makes a big deal out of it. Years later, that same child, who is now
a young adult, is getting behind the wheel of a car to learn to drive. Without even realizing why, he
becomes afraid. Images of his car going out of control come into his head and he begins to
hyperventilate. He doesn’t even remember the accident from his childhood because it was minimized
by the people around him so it didn’t seem like a big deal. But even without consciously remembering
it, the event has impacted him immensely.
Childhood Trauma
Childhood trauma can be difficult to pinpoint in some cases. It can however also be incredibly obvious
but be difficult to treat. There are usually strong feelings surrounding a traumatic incident and such
feelings may prevent the person from talking about what happened. Shame is a common reason
victims of abuse will try and forget what happened to them. As someone who was sexually abused as a
young teen, I can say that one of the major reasons I tried to forget what happened was shame. I didn’t
want to go back and remember that feeling of helplessness. To this day, I still feel shame over what
happened and don’t really talk about it. I guess it’s easier to write about it because I am anonymous
here. It helps me not feel so ashamed about what happened to me. Childhood trauma, depending on
the incident, can be treated
Helpful Staff at Lifescape Solutions
I’m very lucky to know the people at Lifescape Solutions. Paul, who was my therapist in rehab,
specializes in multiple types of Trauma Resolution therapy. He does EMDR, Hypnosis, and some other
Jedi mind trick stuff. It’s amazing how much help I have gotten from him and Mike and Phil. They’ve
helped me remove some of the emotion attached to my various traumatic experiences.

2. I have to say however, that they can’t make me let go of anything, I have to be ready to do that on my
own. When I am ready, they can help me do it, but there are things I am just not ready to let go of. I
have hate for a few people who did things to me that I can’t let go of. I would sacrifice myself to
destroy these people and everything they love and hold dear. I can’t let go of that yet, I’m just not
ready.
The Lifescape Solutions crew has also taught me a lot about life in general. Before I came here, I
isolated all the time and was miserable. I still isolate most of the time, but I’m not miserable anymore.
They taught me how to live and enjoy things without drugs. By helping me deal with some of my
traumas, they have removed a large portion of the reason I was getting high. Life is a lot better than it
was before and I never want to go back to the way things were when I was getting high. I have friends
now, people who like me for who I am, not for what I have or can get.
More importantly, I am learning to like myself now and that’s a completely new thing for me. By
dealing with some of the things from my past, I am learning not to hate myself for the things I have
done, and that too helps me not want to get high. It also helps me want to live, whereas before I
wanted to die. I owe the people at Lifescape Solutions a huge debt. They have given me the
opportunity to achieve the life I want, something I never imagined I would have when I was getting
high. My life isn’t exactly where I imagined it would be, but it’s better than it ever has been before and
for that, I am grateful.