"Bad personality" can be traced back to childhood

Emotional scars from childhood take a lifetime to overcome, and the first step is to discover them. The American "Positive Life" website has summarized 12 symptoms of traumatized children as adults to help us identify and seek help.

1. Don’t trust others. If you don’t have a safe and reliable environment as a child, you won’t trust people easily when you grow up. As adults, they find it difficult to make close friends, are always vigilant, and search hard for evidence of being deceived.

2. Sexual defects. People who have been sexually abused may view sex as something dirty and shameful, or even a nightmare. Some children grow up to engage in sexual indulgences to overcome the trauma of abuse, while others become frigid and avoid sex altogether.

3. Afraid of approaching certain people. If a parent has hit a child for no reason, they may be afraid to approach anyone in the future. If they are spanked with a belt, they may avoid those wearing the belt; even when they reach adulthood and the threat of abuse is gone, the sight of the belt can still trigger traumatic memories in the brain.

4. Extremely eager to be recognized. Traumatized people seek validation from those around them to heal old wounds. These unloved children often feel worthless as they grow up, always feeling that something is wrong and not good enough. In order to offset these feelings, they always seek approval from others and will perform flattering actions.

5. Low self-esteem. There may be two manifestations. One is extreme arrogance and being particularly strong. This is a kind of self-protection, "No one can hurt me anymore." The other is unwillingness to face or even spurn oneself and surrender. These all need to be passed through. Professional psychological consultation to correct it.

6. Mental illness. Children who have suffered physical and mental abuse often have mental and psychological problems as adults, such as depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and personality disorders. Behind almost every mental illness, there is unresolved psychological trauma.

7. Emotionally unstable. Self-regulation is a skill we develop over time. Most people can calm or soothe themselves through common methods, but people with trauma have a reduced ability to regulate their emotions, and they will become anxious when encountering the slightest trouble.

8. Difficulty finding a stable partner. For those with emotional scars and baggage, it is not easy to find a stable partner. They may have many chaotic relationships or be insufficiently committed to their marriage or lover.

9. Physical illness. Many people do not remember abuse that happened as a child, especially if it happened when they were very young. The brain doesn't remember, but the body does. Many people with chronic stress and joint pain have a history of abuse.

10. Drug abuse. People with deep emotional trauma will look for ways to relieve the pain, such as asking doctors to prescribe antidepressants, sleeping pills, and even abusing alcohol and drugs.

11. Resentment. Children who are treated indifferently and poorly will grow up to hold back what happened in the past and feel resentment towards the person who abused them. they may become aggressive, to prevent any further harm.

12. Sleep disorders. During the day, you can still control all kinds of selfish thoughts, but in the dead of night, your brain begins to freely wander and think about past events, including unpleasant memories from the past, which can easily cause sleep disorders and nightmares.

The more of the above symptoms a person has, the more likely he is to have untreated trauma. It is recommended to find out in time and seek help from professionals to get out of the endless cycle of injury.