First, let me begin by saying that the terms developmental trauma, complex trauma, childhood trauma and relational trauma can be used interchangeably. 

But throughout my writing over the last nine years, I’ve predominantly used the term relational trauma versus childhood trauma and this largely centers on the fact that it’s been a struggle for many people to see their lived experience as “counting” as a childhood trauma experience.

I talked about that in my last essay but today, I want to provide more psychoeducation and share six reasons why you might struggle with the term.

But first, let’s ground ourselves in what used to be considered a childhood trauma experience.

What counts as childhood trauma?

Historically, my field has used the concept of ACEs, or Adverse Childhood Experiences, to diagnose and understand it. 

This framework was established by the landmark CDC-Kaiser study in the late 1990s, which aimed to identify and categorize experiences that could be classified as trauma leading to long-term health issues.

The study identified ten types of ACEs: emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect, physical neglect, mother treated violently, substance abuse in the household, mental illness in the household, parental separation or divorce, and having an incarcerated household member. 

Surveying over 17,000 adults, the study found a strong correlation between the number of ACEs and negative health outcomes. This includes heart disease, diabetes, depression, and substance abuse. 

It was an incredible contribution to the field of traumatology.

However, while the ACEs framework was and is invaluable in terms of concretizing childhood abuse experiences and elevating conversation about this in the field of mental health, the study still has its limitations. 

I’ll talk more about those limitations in a minute. But first let me talk about the one other dominant way most people historically diagnosed childhood maltreatment experiences. This was through the definition provided by the World Health Organization:

“Child maltreatment is the abuse and neglect that occurs to children under 18 years of age. It includes all types of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect, negligence and commercial or other exploitation, which results in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power. Exposure to intimate partner violence is also sometimes included as a form of child maltreatment.” 

I think that the WHO’s definition of childhood trauma provides a more expansive lens than that of the Kaiser ACE’s study but still, even with the Kaiser ACE’s checklist of experiences and the WHO definition, many people – and my clients – still wouldn’t find themselves in the definition of childhood trauma/relational trauma.

Why? Let’s discuss that more.

Six reasons why you might struggle with the term “childhood trauma.”

In my clinical experience, I’ve found a range of reasons why people wouldn’t and couldn’t see themselves in the more “classic” definitions of childhood trauma.

And frankly, I include myself in this group. Because until my mid-twenties and I began my healing work at Esalen, no one has talked to me about how my own set of experiences “counted” as childhood trauma.

So, again, going back to the reasons why people wouldn’t see themselves in the definition of childhood trauma. This list includes:

The subtlety of certain experiences.

Like being raised by a well-meaning but suicidally depressed mother may not be seen as “neglect” by someone. The gaslighting endured by someone raised by a sociopathic father may be hard to spot as “abuse” or something that created “harm to the survival” of the individual (inside such strong words in the WHO definition and Kaiser ACE’s checklist, many people are quick to write off their experience as “not counting”).

Another reason? Because mother was the abuser.

And this isn’t really accounted for in the Kaiser checklist at least. It frames mother as the recipient of DV vs the abuser towards partner or children.

Because the abusers may not have been guardians/parents.

But instead siblings or organizations and communities (think boarding schools, cult or extremist religious groups) and the parents didn’t actively harm but they didn’t actively stand up for the child, either, leading to harm.

And piggy backing on that comment, another reason I found people couldn’t or wouldn’t see their experience “counting” as childhood trauma was because they viewed the privilege they had also experienced as some kind of neutralizer of the experience. Comments like, “Sure, dad was always in a rage when he came home, but we had food to eat and vacations every summer, so it couldn’t have counted as trauma, right?”

And beyond the personal gaslighting people would do to themselves, we can’t not acknowledge the gaslighting – the diminishing or dismissing of their lived experience – that they might experience from their family which would lead them to doubt their experience. “Dad’s just being dad. It’s no big deal.” “What are you talking about? That didn’t happen.” “Your sister isn’t upset, it’s not a big deal, Get over it.”

And then, finally, there were the preconceived notions many held about what “counted” as abuse or trauma, largely informed by those historical perceptions but also informed by lack of “palatability” as seeing someone who was abused/came from trauma.

Wrapping up.

Again, while I certainly have a high ACE score (and found that out later in grad school when I was introduced to the concept of ACE’s) but still didn’t see an appropriate, expansive definition of trauma that reflected and/or could capture what I personally experienced, I started using the term relational trauma in my online writing, defining it in a particular way, and, as far as I understand it and as far as the internet tells me, was one of the first to really use the term back in the early days of expanding the conversation online (Spring, 2015).

In my next essay, I’m going to share my now-evolved definition of relational trauma with you. And vignettes of what clients would express as lived experiences that they didn’t see reflected in more “typical” childhood trauma definitions.

But, for now, hopefully by sharing this high quality psychoeducation with you in today’s essay, you can see yourself and why the term “childhood trauma” might have not always felt palatable for you.

And now I’d love to hear from you in the comments:

If you feel so inclined, please leave a message. Our community of 30,000 blog readers can benefit from your share and wisdom.

Here’s to healing relational trauma and creating thriving lives on solid foundations.

Warmly,

Annie

References

1. Kaiser Permanente. (n.d.). Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). My Doctor Online. Retrieved June 10, 2024, from https://mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org/ncal/health-guide/adverse-childhood-experiences-aces
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023, May 18). Preventing adverse childhood experiences. Retrieved June 10, 2024, from https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/about.html
3. World Health Organization. (2022, October 6). Child maltreatment. Retrieved June 10, 2024, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/child-maltreatment