Enduring Scars: A Comprehensive Review of the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Trauma

Abstract

Background: Childhood is a formative period in any person’s life. Sometimes trauma during this phase may have adverse effects which may last an individual’s lifetime. WHO has described child-hood maltreatment as all forms of physical and/or emotional abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, or life-threatening or other abuse, secondary to actual or latent harm to the child’s health, life, and progress. There are four different types of childhood trauma, namely “physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional/psychological abuse, and neglect” which can be further categorized as physical neglect and emotional neglect. Purpose: The incidents of trauma may alter the thinking and learning process, leading to engagement in behaviours such as drug abuse. Childhood trauma leaves many trails such as anxiety issues, anger issues and fear of happiness. Resilience and a supportive environment may lead to improvements and decreased duration of the effects of childhood trauma. Also, previous studies suggest that resilience level is low among childhood trauma patients. Individu-als with better resilience and coping mechanisms seem to have a better quality of life. Conclusion: This article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the long-term effects of childhood trauma and highlight its profound impact on various aspects of human life. There is a huge impact of childhood trauma on the mental and physical well being of an individual.