Impact of Childhood Abuse and Trauma

Parents/caregivers are responsible for creating a safe and loving environment for a child to grow and develop their personality. If this environment becomes threatening or scary, the child is forced to focus on surviving and avoiding danger rather than developing a sense of self. As a result, many survivors of childhood abuse struggle with low self-esteem and lack a sense of identity.

Childhood abuse is any action by a caregiver that has a significant impact on the child’s emotional, physical, or psychological wellbeing. This includes physical, sexual, verbal, or emotional abuse, and emotional or physical neglect. 

How Trauma Therapy Can Increase Your Self-Worth

Participating in trauma therapy can increase your self-worth and help you heal from childhood abuse. A trauma informed therapist uses a variety of approaches and techniques to help each person process and heal from their trauma. Below are some therapeutic techniques you may experience in psychotherapy to help build self-worth:

-Develop sense of self:  Many survivors of childhood abuse report self-confusion and a lack of identity. Psychotherapy will help you explore your interests and teach you to recognize the difference between doing for yourself vs. doing for others’ approval.

-Strengthen healthy thinking: Many survivors have distorted thoughts about childhood abuse. For example, a survivor may blame themself for the abuse instead of the perpetrator. Psychotherapy teaches you to recognize distorted thoughts and reframe those thoughts into healthier ways of understanding the abuse.

-Psycho-education: Low self-worth is largely caused by a lack of understanding of childhood abuse and its impact. Many survivors feel irrational guilt about the abuse or tend to minimize the abuse.  Psycho-education about childhood abuse will increase your awareness and understanding of the trauma you experienced.

-Learn Self-Acceptance: Accepting oneself means learning to love yourself unconditionally and recognizing any faults do not define your self-worth. 

-Therapeutic Relationship: Through psychotherapy, the therapist demonstrates unconditional positive regard towards the client. This creates a safe space for you to increase self-worth and begin to heal from past trauma.

Getting Started with a Trauma Therapist

I specialize in working with trauma survivors. I use techniques from EMDR therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Attachment Theory to help individuals challenge their negative beliefs and develop healthier thought processes. Contact me to learn more about how trauma therapy increases self-worth. 

Online Locations: Nashville, Tennessee – Brentwood, Tennessee – Atlanta, Georgia – Sandy Springs, Georgia – Greater Tennessee and Georgia Area