How childhood trauma changes the brain… and how EFT and Matrix Reimprinting heal it

It’s a truism that childhood experiences continue to influence our emotional reactions and behaviour, even when we’re ‘all grown up’. And it’s also common wisdom that people who suffered traumatic events in childhood are more likely to experience psychological distress as adults.

But until quite recently, no one really knew how events that happened to a person decades ago could still be affecting them. We’re now one step closer to understanding how this occurs.

The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study began back in the late 1990s, when Vincent J. Felitti, Robert F. Anda and colleagues recruited more than 9000 people to fill out a questionnaire on any childhood history of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse as well as exposure to imprisoned, addicted, or otherwise mentally ill family members.

They published the first of many papers in 1998, showing a strong relationship between the number of adverse childhood experiences and later health issues.

Shockingly, over 60% of participants reported at least one ACE and 20% reported 4 or more.

Not only were those who had experienced more ACEs at higher risk of emotional and psychological problems such as depression and increased suicide risk; they also had a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, liver disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – even after the impact of lifestyle behaviours such as smoking and excessive drinking was accounted for (1).

The ACE researchers conclude that biophysical pathways are altered by childhood abuse, and this alteration produces lasting impacts on physical and mental health. Martin Teicher, a researcher at Harvard Medical School who uses questionnaires and measurement scales developed in the ACE study, has been investigating these biophysical pathways – and his findings are fascinating.

For starters, there appear to be ‘sensitive periods’ in which particular regions of the brain are highly susceptible to the impact of traumatic events.

The hippocampus (abnormalities in which are often found in depressed patients) is particularly vulnerable to abuse occurring at three to five years of age; the corpus callosum (abnormal function of which has been linked to suicide attempts) is most sensitive between nine and ten; and the prefrontal cortex (which shows abnormal function in addicts) between fourteen and sixteen years of age (1).

Secondly, different kinds of abuse impact of different brain regions. For example, verbal abuse by parents and/or peers affects the development of the corpus callosum (2) and also the superior temporal gyrus (3), which is involved in language processing. Childhood sexual abuse reduces the volume of grey matter in the visual cortex of young women (4).

Teichner points out that the altered neurobiology of individuals with a history of childhood trauma influences their response to treatment:

“Individuals with childhood abuse and major depression will have a much poorer response to drug treatment, for example, than those without that history. That means that history is a critical determinant in how to approach their treatment and should never be underestimated.” (1)

OK, so that’s the bad news. The good news is that you can change the way your brain functions with a simple, easy-to-learn technique called EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique).

A team of researchers found that people who were experiencing post-traumatic stress after motor vehicle accidents, had significant changes in brainwave activity (measured by an EEG) after successful treatment with EFT (5).

Other researchers (6) have found that EFT reduces cortisol (a stress hormone; high levels are associated with severe mood disorders including depression (7)).

My personal and professional experience with EFT and Matrix Reimprinting (a refinement of EFT which allows us to literally reprogram traumatic memories) confirms these scientific findings: tapping techniques rapidly reduce the perception and symptoms of stress; and allow people to reprocess traumatic memories without retraumatising themselves, freeing them from habitual patterns of behaviour driven by those memories.

The consequences? Clients who felt unlovable due to childhood abuse start to feel worthy of love – and behave in ways that attract it; addictive behaviours disappear; failure programs are replaced by a conviction that the client is entitled to succeed, and has the resources to do so.

In a nutshell, when the brain is rewired with EFT and Matrix Reimprinting, the effects of childhood trauma can be erased, opening the door to physical and mental health.

Ready to rewire your brain for health and happiness? I use EFT and Matrix Reimprinting extensively with my clients, to help resolve the lingering effects of trauma that can hold them back from being happy and healthy.

If you would like to learn more about how EFT and Matrix Reimprinting can help you overcome the effects of trauma, apply for a Roadmap to Optimal Health Consultation.