Marisa Grueso: "Physical abuse is not the most abundant"

Childhood is a fundamental stage in the development of the mental structure on which the adult personality of every human being develops. However, this fact is not accompanied by an "extra" protection against situations capable of destabilizing us psychologically; and that is why it is very important to ensure not only the physical integrity of the little ones, but also their mental health and emotional well-being.

Unfortunately, traumatic events experienced in childhood are a reality, and that is why it is key to act quickly before it when it affects a boy or a girl. To better understand this phenomenon, we will now talk about childhood trauma with psychologist Marisa Grueso.

• Related article: "The 6 characteristics of childhood traumas"

Interview with Marisa Grueso: childhood traumas

Marisa Grueso is a General Health Psychologist with consultation in Castelló de la Plana, as well as author of the book homo addictus. In this interview, he talks about the phenomenon of childhood trauma and its consequences for development and mental health.

Are the traumas that start with a traumatic experience lived in childhood or adolescence the most common?

Let's define trauma first. It seems to come from ancient Greek and means "wound" or "damage". His story is interesting. After the Vietnam War, many veterans experienced symptoms such as nightmares, flashbacks, irritability, social isolation, depression…. Hence the diagnosis of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). Later, a group of scientists observed that many of their patients who had suffered child abuse did not conform to PTSD, as they had more emotional, cognitive, and relational problems complexes.

From there came the definition of Complex PTSD. In therapy, without a doubt, the most frequent are the cases of TEPTC, derived from repeated traumatic experiences in childhood and adolescence, at home. In fact, I have rarely come across cases of “simple” PTSD in my clinical practice.

What makes us at certain ages more vulnerable to the destabilizing effect of certain potentially traumatic experiences?

I would say the most important factor is brain development. In the first years of life, the brain develops very quickly, creating essential neural connections for learning and emotional, social and cognitive development. A baby's brain is especially sensitive to negative environmental experiences.

There are different neuroimaging techniques that have been used to investigate the effects of child abuse or mistreatment, demonstrating that mistreatment effectively child impacts the size and shape of certain brain structures, affecting the brain's ability to concentrate, regulate emotions, stress...

Is it common for fathers and mothers not to take their child to therapy when they have suffered a trauma, and it has to be the affected person themselves who ask for professional help years later?

Normally, parents deny that they are mistreating their children, under justifications such as "we are disciplining them" or teaching them "what life is". They are still being heard: "I was raised like this and it didn't hurt me", "a good cake on time is necessary" or "I hit him for his own good". These claims have no scientific basis. The serious emotional and mental health consequences that they generate are known. For these reasons, the adult, overwhelmed by the symptoms, is the one who decides to come to therapy, most of the time unaware of the origin of his discomfort.

As a psychologist, what are the most common types of traumas that you see affecting people in their first years of life?

Contrary to what one might think, physical abuse is not the most common. Psychological abuse is much more frequent. The child may have felt emotionally abandoned; not integrated into own family; humiliated through threats, insults, ridicule; overly manipulated or controlled; socially isolated; exposed to the parents' own conflicts...

I also want to mention the sexual abuse in childhood, much more frequent than one might think. According to WHO data, 1 in 4 girls have been victims of sexual abuse worldwide. I believe that the figures could be even worse, because many times, due to the trauma itself, these events are forgotten. It is something very worrying, which is seen a lot in the consultation, but on which enough focus is not yet placed.

What are the emotional and behavioral disturbances into which childhood trauma often ramifies once the person enters adulthood?

Childhood trauma has terrible and lasting consequences in adult life (if you don't work in trauma-focused therapy). The effects will depend on the severity of the abuse received, but there are already many studies that maintain that child abuse seriously increases the risk of suffering from anxiety disorders in adult life, depression, difficulties in personal relationships, problems with self-esteem, regulation emotional…

What is the link between trauma and addictions?

Childhood traumas and addictions are very connected. Investigating the subject, I realized that there is a lot of scientific literature that supports this connection between childhood traumas and addictions. However, very little is said about this in the context of clinics or centers that treat addictions.

There is a very popular author, the Canadian doctor Gabor Mate, who for many years worked in a drug addiction center in Vancouver. He has widely publicized the relationship between these two phenomena. He claims that addiction is a response to the feeling of emptiness resulting from childhood traumas, simple as that. However, the addicted person tends to feel very guilty about their own way of self-medicating their discomfort. This was the reason why I decided to write a book on the subject (Homo Addictus) in which I wanted to put special emphasis on the guiltlessness of the addicted person.

From your point of view, what are the most useful therapeutic resources for trauma originated during childhood?

According to Gabor Mate, with whom I fully agree, addiction treatment should not focus not just to stop using substances, but to address the emotional issues underlying their own addictions. For this, the relationship between the therapist and the patient, who will jointly address the underlying traumas, is essential.

From psychoanalysis, which is the therapeutic approach with which I work, through the story of the the patient's own history, a greater understanding of the traumas and conflicts of the childhood. Repressed painful emotions are gradually released. In fact, there are studies that say that addiction treatments with a psychoanalytic approach, not based on abstinence in principle, have longer-lasting effects over time.