Childhood Traumatic Experiences and Contribution to Psychiatric Disorders in Adulthood

Childhood Traumatic Experiences and Contribution to Psychiatric Disorders in Adulthood

Mental health illness is a disorder that affects an individual’s thought process, behavior, and mood. Mental illness is also referred to as mental health and psychiatric disorders. Mental health disorders are increasingly becoming a global health concern. It is estimated that 50% of the United States (US) population has received a mental health diagnosis during their lifetime (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2021, as cited by Kuang and Wang, 2022). These disorders cause significant morbidity and mortality in many population groups. These illnesses form part of the ignored or poorly understood conditions due to lack of understanding, ignorance, and misinformation. The invisibility and differences in how communities perceive these illnesses have been blamed for this discourse.

As healthcare systems are tilting toward innovative ways to manage these illnesses, great consideration has been given to the pathogenic principles underlying these illnesses. Understanding the factors interplaying in their development and how they manifest allows the establishment of healthcare resources that are valuable in managing mental health illnesses. Salokangas et al. (2020) attest that people with mental health problems generally report having traumatic experiences. This paper examines the pathogenetic features preceding mental health illnesses, emphasizing the nexus between traumatic childhood experiences and psychiatric disorders.

Literature Review

Traumatic experiences in childhood encompass events that cause stress in a child’s life. These include sexual and physical assault, exposure to any form of violence, the sudden death of a loved one, and exposure to natural disasters such as earthquakes. Regardless of the form of a traumatic event, these experiences have profound effects on the emotional, physical, psychosocial, and spiritual health of an individual. McKay et al. (2021) note that childhood traumatic events impact a child’s psychosocial and mental health in their later lives. Children with such experiences tend to have difficulty managing, expressing, and identifying their emotions. Additionally, they tend to internalize or externalize their stress reactions and may thus experience anxiety, depression, and anger. These effects often interplay in their future illnesses and are often overlooked or unidentified during their management.

Several mental health illnesses have been associated with traumatic childhood events. Nelson et al. (2020) report that there is a strong nexus between childhood experiences and mental health illnesses. Psychiatric disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, acute stress disorder, reactive attachment disorders, adjustment disorders, and others are correlated with traumatic childhood events such as emotional abuse, bullying, parental loss, and general maltreatment. The overarching principle behind the development of these disorders is the loss of trust, connection, and self-worth that proceeds from these events. Children exposed to such events often internalize the feeling that they are not lovable and have low self-worth. More often, they resort to maladaptive behaviors such as alcohol abuse and may develop depression, anxiety, and anger issues in their adolescence and adulthood. Findings have revealed that the incidence of mental health and other somatic illnesses such as sleep disturbance disorders, lower perception of self, and reduced emotional well-being are up to twice as high in individuals who were exposed to a form of a traumatic event in their childhood (Devi et al., 2019). This reveals the extent of involvement of these events in their suffering.

The ripple effects of early traumatic experiences have also been evident in somatic illnesses that ultimately affect individuals’ mental wellness. Tohi et al. (2022) report that children who experience trauma are at higher risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, cancers, and other chronic non-communicable diseases. While distinction exists between these illnesses and various mental health presentations, people living with these conditions are up to twice as likely to develop mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety. Comorbidities with depression and non-communicable diseases are a major contributing factor to increased hospitalizations and clinical visitations among adults. As such, this draws a nexus between childhood trauma and these presentations and reinforces the need to address childhood trauma as a modifiable risk factor for psychiatric manifestations in adulthood.

Emotional equanimity is an underlying factor in mental health wellness. The pursuit of mentally healthier communities often focuses on cultivating equanimity among individuals as a measure to enhance positive decision-making and mental health preservation. Zaorska et al. (2020) note that adverse events in the early childhood developmental phase have a bearing on an individual’s emotional wellness. Emotional concerns among adults with histories of childhood trauma include aggression, anger outbursts, low self-esteem, increased thoughts about safety, and suicidal ideation, among others. These concerns, in isolation, can result in significant harm to these adults. Suicidal ideation, for instance, is a major risk factor for self-harm that requires immediate psychiatric intervention. Notwithstanding, these concerns also interplay in the development of various psychiatric manifestations. Repeated thoughts of safety, low self-esteem, aggression, and outbursts can easily progress to anxiety, depression, and other psychiatric illnesses. These presentations considerably affect the quality of life of the affected person.

Childhood trauma has also been associated with various environmental risks, which ultimately contribute to the development of mental health illnesses. According to De Venter et al. (2020), adverse events in early childhood can lead to poor job performance, poor academic performance, difficulty completing daily tasks, and relationship problems. These environmental problems interplay in the development of various mental health illnesses. Poor performance at job and school has been implicated in the development of depressive disorders. The pressure to perform can also result in anxiety disorders. Job losses that may follow poor appraisals will also have detrimental effects on an adult’s mental well-being and even result in other mental health presentations such as substance use disorders.

Relationship problems are other common presentations in psychiatric clinics. In as much as this problem occurs across populations, people with histories of early childhood trauma are more likely to have relationship problems than their counterparts with negative histories of these events. This is often due to insecure attachments and lack of trust that often precedes these events. These relationship problems often manifest as clinginess in relationships, the fear of abandonment, the fear of intimacy, and subsequent emotional detachment and self-isolation. These manifestations affect these relationships in their entirety, as they are unlikely to last long. Breakups and relationship hitches are common in such circumstances. Whenever they occur, relationship problems can often lead to mental health illnesses such as depression.

Significant in comprehensive mental health care is the ability of clients to heal from various stressors to their mental wellness. Herzog and Schmahl (2018) report that adults with histories of childhood events often have difficulties processing trauma even in their adulthood. Such individuals manifest maladaptive coping strategies and are considerably affected by daily stressors and losses that occur in their lives. Whenever such stressors occur, they are more likely to result in significant mental deterioration in these individuals. Additionally, these individuals often respond slowly to integrative therapy targeted at mitigating the short-term and long-term effects of these stressors. This further highlights the impact adverse childhood events have on an adult’s life. Several

Adverse childhood events remain a risk factor for various psychiatric illnesses. These events have direct and indirect effects on adults’ mental wellness. Literature findings continuously reveal the nexus between these illnesses and psychiatric manifestations such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety (Nelson et al., 2020). Findings also confirm a link between these events and other adulthood manifestations that interplay in the development of mental health disorders (Tohi et al., 2022). Somatic illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes, emotional dysregulation, and other environmental factors such as poor performance and relationship problems have also been associated with these events. These manifestations have been implicated in mental health disorders drawing an indirect correlation between adverse childhood events and these disorders.

The health impacts of these illnesses on the quality of life warrant their management. Studies that interrogate the pathogenic root cause of these illnesses maintain significance in informing aspects of managing these diseases. Understanding the individual factors that interplay in the development of these disorders enables the establishment of a framework to address these disorders. As the global prevalence of these illnesses grows, such studies will be necessary as they contribute to global efforts to curtail the health impacts of these disorders.

Theoretical Framework

This research is guided by the trauma model of mental health illnesses. Mental health illnesses have a multi-factorial etiology. Genetic, psychosocial, and environmental factors have been implicated in the development of mental health illnesses. Environmental factors such as where a person lives, childhood experiences, relationships, maternal influences, and pollution are known to interplay in the development of psychiatric manifestations. Traumatic experiences in childhood, particularly, have been associated with several mental health illnesses in the later years. Understanding these factors allows the establishment of effective management frameworks and is thus integral to effective psychiatric care.

Research Question and Hypothesis

The research question is, “Do childhood traumatic experiences contribute to psychiatric disorders in adulthood?” Notably, the hypothesis states that childhood experiences contribute to psychiatric disorders in adulthood. Traumatic events in early childhood, such as bullying and parental loss, contribute to psychiatric illnesses in later life.

Methods

The research will be a quantitative study that utilizes a retrospective cohort approach to examine the frequency of childhood trauma in clients presenting with mental health illnesses.

References

De Venter, M., Elzinga, B. M., Van Den Eede, F., Wouters, K., Van Hal, G. F., Veltman, D. J., Sabbe, B. G., & Penninx, B. W. (2020). The associations between childhood trauma and work functioning in adult workers with and without depressive and anxiety disorders. European Psychiatry, 63(1). https://doi.org/10.1192/j.eurpsy.2020.70

Devi, F., Shahwan, S., Teh, W. L., Sambasivam, R., Zhang, Y. J., Lau, Y. W., Ong, S. H., Fung, D., Gupta, B., Chong, S. A., & Subramaniam, M. (2019). The prevalence of childhood trauma in psychiatric outpatients. Annals of General Psychiatry, 18(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12991-019-0239-1

Herzog, J. I., & Schmahl, C. (2018). Adverse childhood experiences and the consequences on neurobiological, psychosocial, and somatic conditions across the lifespan. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00420

Kuang, K., & Wang, N. (2022). Coping with uncertainty in mental illness: Associations among desired support, support-seeking strategies, and received support from family members. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 40(3), 1018–1043. https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075221123093

McKay, M. T., Cannon, M., Chambers, D., Conroy, R. M., Coughlan, H., Dodd, P., Healy, C., O’Donnell, L., & Clarke, M. C. (2021). Childhood trauma and adult mental disorder: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of Longitudinal Cohort Studies. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 143(3), 189–205. https://doi.org/10.1111/acps.13268

Nelson, C. A., Bhutta, Z. A., Burke Harris, N., Danese, A., & Samara, M. (2020). Adversity in childhood is linked to mental and physical health throughout life. BMJ, m3048. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m3048

Salokangas, R. K., Schultze-Lutter, F., Schmidt, S. J., Pesonen, H., Luutonen, S., Patterson, P., Graf von Reventlow, H., Heinimaa, M., From, T., & Hietala, J. (2020). Childhood physical abuse and emotional neglect are specifically associated with adult mental disorders. Journal of Mental Health, 29(4), 376–384. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2018.1521940

Tohi, M., Bay, J. L., Tu’akoi, S., & Vickers, M. H. (2022). The developmental origins of Health and Disease: Adolescence as a critical life-course period to break the transgenerational cycle of NCDs—a narrative review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(10), 6024. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19106024

Zaorska, J., Kopera, M., Trucco, E. M., Suszek, H., Kobyliński, P., & Jakubczyk, A. (2020). Childhood trauma, emotion regulation, and pain in individuals with alcohol use disorder. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/

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Childhood Traumatic Experiences and Contribution to Psychiatric Disorders in Adulthood

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