with as basic science and as much analogies as possible, please explain why does childhood trauma carries on into adulthood and even at a later age, even when it’s not happening anymore later on.

Question

Why can’t the brain simply forget about it since it’s from a long time ago and still end up having some form of mental health issues later on in life because of it?

In: 39

Answer 1

Childhood is important part of your life… It’s where your personality develops (among many other things). Lot of tiny decisions have huge effects down the line in life.

Analogy: do you know Play-Doh? That toy you can shape into anything? But after a while it hardens into the shape you left it in? That’s the best analogy I could come up with at 1am 🙂

Back to science… Childhood trauma interrupts basic and natural development of brain. Trauma and responses to it become core memories and bases for your personality.

Second thing is our pattern seeking and wanting to survive nature of our brain. Really simply said. If for example dog bit you, your brain will forever associate dogs with danger… This is to protect you. You can sometimes slowly overcome it, but it takes effort.