SIGNS OF REPRESSED CHILDHOOD TRAUMA AND THE RADICAL APPROACH FROM DR. GABOR MATÉ

1. Chronic anxiety and depression. Feelings of persistent worry, sadness, hopelessness, and guilt that begin to really interfere with your daily life.
   
   These could result from constant criticism, being neglected, and/or abused as a child. Causing you to internalize the message that you are not good enough.
   
2. Relationship problems. Repressed childhood trauma may cause you to have difficulty forming and maintaining healthy and satisfying relationships. Experiencing trust issues, attachment insecurity, codependency, and/or fear of intimacy.
   
   This can lead to seeking or attracting toxic and abusive partners for a familiar comfort in dysfunctional relationships. Often rejecting or sabotaging healthy relationships.

3. Dissociation and detachment. Repressed childhood trauma may also cause episodes of dissociation, especially in times of high stress and triggering moments. This looks like feeling disconnected from your thoughts, feelings, body, and/or surroundings. A “flight” response, where your mind and body may feel like it’s checking out without control. Another example is feeling detached from your identity and sense of self overall.

4. Difficulty regulating your emotions. Whether it’s mood swings, angry outbursts, and/or anxiety attacks, the inability to control these strong emotions often indicate the lack of support from a nurturing environment.

5. Gaps or inconsistencies in your memories of childhood. It might be hard to remember time, places, people, and/or events when you were younger.

6. Substance abuse and addiction. This can look like developing a dependency on alcohol, drugs, food, gambling, sex, smoking, work, shopping, social media, tv, self-harm and/or other substances to cope with unresolved pain and trauma. Especially in times of high stress. So much so that you end up relying on external substances to escape from such strong emotions or even to fill a void in your life. The inability to control such impulses end up interfering with your overall functioning and well-being in life.

That’s A LOT, right?! I know. Don’t check out! (See #3). We’re gonna bring this full circle.

Okay! So, this is where Dr. Gabor Maté’s years of research and field work comes in.

Dr. Gabor Maté

Dr. Maté has devoted his life’s work to studying trauma, addiction, mind-body health, and working with a holistic approach as a remedy. To which we can prevent or reverse them by becoming more aware of our emotions and needs. Here is how his approach is radically challenging western medicine’s approach.

Addiction

Dr. Maté’s ground-breaking perspective on human suffering and healing, defying many of the assumptions and previously believed ideas we’ve had about the mind in the wilds of society. For example, one of the Dr. Maté’s views is that addiction is not a moral failure or a disease, but a coping habit developed to soothe emotional pain from trauma. The underlining cause of addiction is not the substance or behavior, but lack of connection in early development.

Early Stages of Development

His findings discuss the complexities of how nurture effects nature in the most extraordinary ways. Child development in its early stages is crucial in forming personality, self-esteem, and emotional regulation.

Healing

Dr. Gabor’s studies emphasize the need for a positive environment with healthy attachments, mixed with a low level of stress from conception to early life. This calls for unconditional love, support, acceptance, and guidance from main caregivers.

This is where the concept of epigenetics comes into play. The CDC defines epigenetics as “the study of how your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work. Unlike genetic changes, epigenetic changes are reversible and do not change your DNA sequence, but they can change how your body reads a DNA sequence”.

Therefore, when there is more trauma and more stress in a child’s environment in their early years, there is a lack of development of critical brain receptors. The brain then is more prone to substance dependence on external stimulation in the long run. The greater the need for external stimulation often correlates with fewer brain receptors.

In a 2016 interview, Dr. Maté maintained,“…in the case of addiction, the brain’s reward circuitry is impaired… the person’s circuits, which have to do with the chemical dopamine and which give you a sense of reward incentive and motivation, are not well-developed.”

Dr. Maté seems to have unlocked a hidden gem here. Laying out the ideal conditions to raise a child. Yet how do we accomplish this in a hustle culture and a society hardwired for stress? At the very least, a nation divided on how to meet the needs of all social classes. Parents working two or more jobs just to support their families. Stress almost seems inevitable in a society with prejudices towards social classes and diverse cultures. Limiting us to advance as far as our society allows.

Thankfully, there’s a phase 2 when it comes to healing. For those who struggled in their childhood, trying to figure out life likely armed with a smaller amount of brain receptors.

Dr. Maté has found that we can reduce stress by changing our attitudes, behaviors, and perspective on situations in life. Understanding the importance of setting personal boundaries and finding peace in the simplicities of our lives. We can heal from trauma by releasing the stored energy and emotions in both our minds and bodies so that we can create a sense of safety and trust in ourselves and in others. Finally, heal from addictions by addressing underlying wounds and finding healthy ways to meet our emotional needs.

@dahliakurtz Dr. Gabor Maté explains why when it comes to trauma, everything goes back to childhood. This is a revelation. Want the full conversation? Link in bio. #childhoodtrauma #trauma #gabormate #drgabormate #mentalhealth #toxicfamily #soldiers #healing ♬ original sound – Dahlia Kurtz 🦋

Thankfully, we are in a time of collective awakening prevailing for those who are seeking help. For the desire to learn, the vulnerability to feel, the courage to change what’s not working, and the acceptance that this is a lifelong journey full of ups and downs to rewire the brain for a self-loving balanced life.

If you made it to the end, I encourage you to keep going. This is helpful for awareness purposes. It is not a method in which to self-diagnose. However, if your gut is telling you something, listen to it and reach out to a therapist. If something is triggering you, it’s something worth looking at so it no longer has a control over you. Do some research of your own on Dr. Maté.

This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. I have personally struggled with each and every “sign of repressed trauma” listed above. I’ve developed some pretty problematic coping habits. And I ran away from it until I could run no more. It hurts, but here I am. A year and some months later, addressing the trauma and memories I buried deep down. It’s been a hell of a journey retraining my brain. Although my mind and body has kicked and screamed all the way through, it definitely has improved my life.