Transforming Trauma Into Personal Power Evaluation Copy

Childhood Trauma 

Time for school – lots of changes!  Teachers, the new parent figure, can grow or diminish the seeds of shame, or foundation of growth, that are deeply planted in each child.  A teacher can be “having a bad” day, give you a “perceived” dirty look and the shame is intensified:  “some is wrong with me.”  Also, a teacher can be highly critical:  “You are not doing this right”: “some is wrong with me-I’ll never do it right”

Unfortunately for many children much deeper, painful trauma occurs in the form of mental/emotional abuse, physical abuse and sexual abuse.  These experiences of extreme trauma are usually perpetrated by “authority figures” – parent, relative, friend of family, youth leader, scout master, teacher, preacher and a variety of different types of bullies who are “dumping their shame” on to a helpless child.   It is a vicious cycle.

Children as so traumatized by these “deeper experiences” that they push the incident into their unconscious mind as a way to survive physically and emotionally.  Also, the child still wants to be loved and often their “definition of love’ is tied to abuse.  AND, the bottom line is always:  “Something is wrong with me – It’s my fault – I am flawed – I am shame.”