Every parent struggles with finding the line to toe between letting your children be free to learn who they are and some life lessons, and protecting them from the endless list of evils that exist in this world. Childhood trauma, unfortunately, isn’t something that parents can be guaranteed to avoid, no matter how they raise their children.

Experiences with at least some level of trauma are legitimately impossible to completely avoid, but not all traumatic events cause lasting issues, and many of them actually help youngsters learn how to grow and cope with hardship. Most of these types of experiences, however, are things that kids can understand easily, such as seeing an animal take the life of another animal for its own survival.

The more inexplicable events, such as emotional abuse, neglect, sexual exploitation, or seeing domestic violence between parents tend to be the ones that cause more lasting damage. This damage can lead to things like PTSD, thoughts of self-harm, depression, mistrust, and more, and all of these become more likely the longer the traumatic event is left unaddressed, including into adulthood. Here are a couple of recommended strategies for addressing childhood trauma in both kids and adults.

In Children

Identifying symptoms of trauma in children can be as difficult as treating it, as youngsters believe that what they are familiar with is simply the norm. Similar to what judges look for in children during custody cases, you can look for in your own children, or children you care about who you think may have experienced a traumatic event. Anger towards one parent more than another can be a tell, as can poor eating habits or strange fears. Insomnia is often another tell, as is a loss of interest in old hobbies, though both of those are fairly common among the teenage demographic.

Once identified, it is important to act quickly, and one-on-one counseling with a licensed professional is generally the first step, as the counselor will be able to get the “whole story” without evoking anger or sadness. Therapists also encourage loved ones to discuss their roles and figure out ways to boost self-esteem and self-compassion in the suffering youngsters. Medication is also often recommended, but not necessarily if the traumatic experiences are brought to light early enough, and the experiences and feelings the child may have are explained and understood.

In Adults

Identifying childhood trauma in adults should be easier, in theory, as adults are more worldly and tend to convey feelings better, but admitting that something that happened decades ago is having affects on an individual in the present can be very difficult to do. Because of this, identification is often accidental in adults, with a for instance being a late-night chat where someone mentions something from their childhood.

Self-identification is becoming slightly more normal, as more and more statistical evidence supporting therapy regarding childhood trauma continues to be generated, and the stigma that talking about your experiences is somehow a bad thing starts to be less and less of the norm. Unaddressed childhood trauma can lead to mental health issues abound, and uncovering a traumatic event in a loved one sometimes results in almost immediate declines in those health issues that the traumatic event caused.

In a nutshell, the best way to prevent lasting effects of childhood trauma are to address it as quickly as possible. There are different strategies for the “how” regarding addressing trauma, but they often depend on the personality type of the individual. No matter who a person is, the quicker childhood trauma can be discussed, the quicker the effects can be dealt with.