5 Emotional Wounds From Childhood That Persist As Adults

The  emotional wounds of childhood  predict in many cases what our quality of life will be like when we are adults. They are like psychic injuries, like loose and poorly healed fragments that prevent us from leading a full existence and even facing the small problems of day to day with greater ease and resistance.

The signs of these psychological wounds are often evident in infinite ways. Anxiety, obsessive thoughts, greater vulnerability to certain disorders, sleep problems, defensive attitude …

It is not easy to deal with a traumatic past, however, it is even more so when those marks originated at a young age. In that first stage of a child’s life where he still lacks personal strategies to handle and understand certain dimensions.

Thus, in some way, it is very common that 5 types of painful experiences or emotional wounds of childhood always occur that will end up leaving a very evident imprint on our personality.

Let’s see below what our wounds are, defined by Lisa Bourbeau, the well-known coach and expert in personal growth famous above all for creating a schools and workshops under the name “Listen to your body”.

1. Emotional wounds of childhood: fear of abandonment

Loneliness is the worst enemy of those who experienced abandonment in their childhood. Therefore, it is common in adulthood to experience a constant fear of living this lack again. Hence, for example, there appears a high anxiety to be abandoned by the partner, obsessive thoughts and even poorly adjusted behaviors due to the high fear of experiencing that suffering once again.

Furthermore, studies such as the one carried out by Dr. 

The wound caused by abandonment is not easy to heal, we know. Thus, you yourself will be aware that it has begun to heal when the fear of lonely moments disappears, and in them a positive and hopeful inner dialogue begins to flow.

2. The fear of rejection

The fear of rejection is one of the deepest emotional wounds of childhood, as it implies the rejection of ourselves. With interior we refer to our experiences, our thoughts and our feelings.

The person who suffers from the fear of rejection does not feel worthy of affection or understanding and isolates himself in his inner emptiness. It is likely that, if we have suffered this in our childhood, we are elusive people. So we must work on our fears, our internal fears and those situations that generate panic.

If this is your case, take care of your place, take risks and make decisions for yourself. You will be less and less bothered when people leave and you will not take it personally that they forget about you at some point.

3. The humiliation

This wound is generated when at the time we feel that others disapprove and criticize us. We can generate these problems in our children by telling them that they are clumsy, bad or boring, as well as airing their problems before others; This destroys children’s self-esteem.

The emotional hurts of childhood related to humiliation often generate a dependent personality. Furthermore, we may have learned to be “tyrant” and selfish as a defense mechanism, and even to humiliate others as a protective shield.

Having suffered these types of experiences requires that we work on our independence, our freedom, the understanding of our needs and fears, as well as our priorities.

Betrayal or fear of trusting

The fear of trusting others arises when the child has felt betrayed by one of his parents. Dimensions such as breaking promises, not protecting, lying or not being when a father or mother is most needed causes deep wounds. In many cases, that feeling of emptiness and hopelessness is transformed into other dimensions: distrust, frustration, anger, envy towards what others have, low self-esteem …

Having suffered a betrayal in childhood builds controlling people who want to have everything tied up and tied up. If you have suffered from these problems in childhood, you probably feel the need to exercise some control over others, which is often justified by a strong character.

These people often confirm their mistakes by the way they act. Healing the emotional wounds of betrayal requires working on patience, tolerance, and knowing how to live, as well as learning to be alone and delegate responsibilities.

5. Injustice

Injustice as an emotional wound originates in an environment where the primary caregivers are cold and authoritarian. In childhood, demanding too much and exceeding the limits will generate feelings of ineffectiveness and worthlessness, both in childhood and in adulthood. An expert author on this topic is undoubtedly Yong Zhao, a respected academic in education.

According to Zhao, as he explains in one of his works, authoritarianism in the home and in one’s education affects both the psychological and emotional development, as well as the potential and performance of the children themselves. When our rights are vetoed and we do not receive valid and meaningful support, consideration and closeness, serious psychological wounds undoubtedly appear.

The direct consequences of injustice in the behavior of those who suffer it will be rigidity, low self-esteem, the need for perfectionism, as well as the inability to make decisions with confidence.

In these cases, it is important to  work on self-esteem, self-concept, as well as mental rigidity, generating as much flexibility as possible and allowing yourself to trust others.

Now that we know the five childhood emotional wounds that can affect our well-being, our health, and our ability to develop as people, we can begin to heal them.