How childhood trauma could affect your life expectancy, relationships and mental health

This is an important article. If you feel you’ve suffered from childhood trauma, please get help and support. Please take it seriously. This is a common thread in many of the readings I do for people, and all of us deserve to find peace and happiness in our lives. Mindful Meditation is a fantastic method for dealing with these issues.

If this is you, please reach out and GET HELP.

Article by Sarah Young:
“Childhood abuse can create long-lasting scars, damage our perception of the world and set our brains to self-destruct until we are well into our 50s, say experts.
While the relationships that we form at a young age help us to develop, if they are destructive, they can negatively impact the rest of our lives.
Research has shown that childhood trauma, ranging from sexual abuse and parent’s divorce to alcoholism in the home, actually increases the odds of heart disease, stroke, depression and diabetes later on in life.

Furthermore, it also increases risky health behaviors such as smoking or having a large number of sexual partners, and even contributes to a lower life expectancy.
The study revealed that those traumatized as children, with six or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), died nearly 20 years earlier than those who had none.
As well as physical affects, these experiences are known to increase the risk of poor psychological health later.
Children who suffer trauma often grow to distrust others as a result of being betrayed by the very adults who are supposed to nurture and protect them, according to the Australian abuse support group Blue Knot Foundation.
Similarly, a study of more than 21,000 child abuse survivors age 60 and older in Australia revealed a much greater rate of failed marriages and relationships, with abuse survivors more  likely to rate themselves “not happy at all” or “not very happy.”
Other problems people with a history of child trauma are more likely to experience include depression, anxiety, drug or alcohol abuse, addiction to gambling and shopping, and low self-esteem.
Despite this, there are a number of therapies and tools known to help trauma survivors such as mindful meditation and cognitive behavioral therapy. “

In Praise of Melancholy and How It Enriches Our Capacity for Creativity

http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/11/28/against-happiness-melancholy-wilson/

Fantastic article by Maria Popova: 

"“One feels as if one were lying bound hand and foot at the bottom of a deep dark well, utterly helpless,” Van Gogh wrote in one of his many letters expounding his mental anguish. And yet the very melancholy that afflicted him was also the impetus for the creative restlessness that sparked his legendary art. In his diary, the Danish philosopher and poet Søren Kierkegaard — one of the most influential thinkers of the past millennium — wrote that he often “felt bliss in melancholy and sadness” and thought he was “used by the hand of a higher Power through [his] melancholy.” Nietzsche, too, believed that a certain amount of suffering is essential to the soul."


I've personally experienced depression throughout my life, and it seems so prevalent in today's society. Maybe it's more out in the open and more people are talking about it. I want to share any information I find on it, just so people can be informed and supported. It's hard to see any positive, life enhancing effect from depression, and that's why this article is so wonderful to find. 

I manage my depression with exercise, diet and being sociable. If I don't feel like doing anything, my adorable dog makes sure I do! But another great way to work through depression is creativity. I often turn to music, writing or bead working when I feel depression coming on, and it always gives me a sense of accomplishment - makes me feel like I'm moving forward in my life. Depression touches everyone's life, either personally or through our personal relations. What are some ways you manage it?