This week’s “Ask Sam” is going to be a bit different.

We’ve had a question for Sam and as well as writing her reply, she want’s to get other views The question:

“Is it possible to recover from childhood trauma, or do you just live with it?”

If any of you have lived experience it would be really good to hear from you. Of course and responses will be completely anonymous and confidential.

Please use the “Ask Sam a Question” page to submit your responses.

This is such a simple, yet powerful, question and I’m sure relevant for many people.

The short answer is yes, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. Trauma can have a powerful effect on us mentally but also physically. There is a great deal of research showing that conditions such as Fibromyalgia and back pain can be the result of unresolved trauma. Trauma can also affect our brain wiring making us more hypervigilant, less trusting for example and more likely to suffer from a mental health issue. In the same way trauma can affect our brain wiring, we can change that brain wiring up till the day we die. Which means, we can recover.

We also know that other elements of childhood can reduce the impact of the trauma, e.g. having someone who is physically and emotionally available, able to listen with blame or shame, positive self-esteem experiences, Repressing childhood trauma and ‘not talking about it’ isn’t healing and it will manifest itself in other ways.

There are many proven therapeutic interventions for healing from childhood trauma and it does take work but many many people have found that work worth it, no matter how old they are. Hope that helps and thank you for reaching out to ask.