How To Treat Childhood Trauma in Adults

Childhood trauma can echo throughout adulthood in quiet, painful ways. You might not always connect the dots between past experiences and present struggles—why relationships feel unsafe, why anxiety follows you like your shadow, or why self-doubt clouds out your confidence.

At Marsh Psychotherapy, we understand that healing from childhood trauma isn’t about getting over it—it’s about gently unraveling the patterns that formed in response to pain and rebuilding your relationship with yourself. 

In this blog, we’ll explore how adults can begin to heal childhood trauma through psychotherapy, self-compassion, and meaningful connection.

Understanding the Lingering Impact

Before we talk about treatment, it’s important to acknowledge: if you experienced trauma as a child, your response to it was adaptive. You did what you needed to survive emotionally or physically. Over time, though, those same survival mechanisms—emotional numbing, perfectionism, people-pleasing, avoidance—can limit your ability to feel safe, loved, and grounded as an adult.

The first step in healing? Recognizing that what you experienced wasn’t your fault—and what you’re feeling now is valid.

How Can Childhood Trauma Be Treated in Adulthood?

Therapy offers a space where your story can be heard, understood, and honored. Here are some evidence-based and compassionate approaches to treating childhood trauma in adults:

1. Reprocessing the Trauma Safely

Memories from childhood trauma can live in both the mind and the body. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is one approach that helps reduce the emotional intensity of traumatic memories without needing to relive them in detail. Somatic therapy works through the body, allowing stored stress and emotion to be safely released.

These therapies offer more than symptom relief—they help restore a sense of safety and control over your body and mind.

2. Healing the Inner Child

Often, the parts of us that were hurt in childhood remain frozen in time—young, scared, and trying to make sense of pain. Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy helps you connect with these inner parts from a place of compassion, not judgment.

By nurturing these wounded inner selves, you begin to transform shame into understanding, and fear into self-trust.

3. Creating New Patterns

Childhood trauma often teaches us distorted beliefs about ourselves—“I’m not enough,” “I can’t trust anyone,” “I have to be perfect to be safe.” Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps identify and challenge these unhelpful thought patterns. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) adds tools for emotional regulation and relationship boundaries.

These therapies are especially useful for creating a sense of empowerment and self-efficacy in daily life.

4. Expressing the Unspeakable

Sometimes words aren’t enough—or feel too overwhelming. Creative Arts Therapy allows healing to unfold through drawing, music, movement, and storytelling. This nonverbal processing can unlock emotional truths that are hard to access through talk therapy alone, especially when trauma left you without the words to explain what happened.

5. Building Trust, Slowly and Gently

At the heart of trauma recovery is relationship—specifically, a safe and trusting one. Interpersonal and relational therapy focuses on the here-and-now dynamics between you and your therapist. It offers a reparative experience of connection—one where your needs are seen, your emotions are held, and your voice is heard.

This kind of therapeutic relationship can be a profound corrective experience for those who were emotionally abandoned or misunderstood as children.

What Does Healing Actually Look Like?

Healing doesn’t mean forgetting or excusing the past. It means:

• No longer blaming yourself for what happened.
• Feeling emotions without being consumed by them.
• Developing relationships where you feel safe, respected, and loved.
• Letting go of coping mechanisms that no longer serve you.
• Coming home to yourself.

Healing is not linear. There may be setbacks, but there is also growth, insight, and deep transformation. And you do not have to walk that path alone.

Starting the Journey

Therapy provides a space where healing isn’t rushed or forced—it unfolds at your pace, with the guidance of someone trained to help you navigate the complexities of your experience.

At Marsh Psychotherapy, our approach is holistic, trauma-informed, and centered on you. Whether you’re just starting to explore the impact of your childhood or ready to take your next step, we offer an empathetic and grounded environment where real healing can begin.

Please contact us if you would like to learn more about therapy for trauma.