Healthy Childhoods Do Not Invalidate Chronic Illness.
Can childhood trauma cause lifelong stress the effects of which are still being explored? Yes.
But is childhood trauma the cause of all chronic illnesses? No.
This myth is so harmful both to those perpetuating it and those who hear it.
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When you say its the trauma you
1.) Invalidate the experiences of those who had incredibly positive childhoods. Or gaslight them into questioning their own experiences.
2.) Remove incentive and motivation into looking for physiological cures for physiological illnesses.
3.) Feed into the myth that chronic illness is a mental health issue not systemic bodily dysfunction.
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I am not saying trauma is never a cause or contributing factor, it may even be the largest. But it is not a biological explanation. Why? Because people without childhood trauma get sick. Yes, people repress trauma, but there are people out there with healthy childhoods and with chronic illnesses and if only one of them is telling the truth this theory is false.
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Why does this myth persist?
1.) Makes people with healthy childhoods feel immune to chronic illness
2.) Makes doctors feel less guilty for not treating chronic illness patients (wasn't my fault they had a crappy childhood)
3.) Gives doctors an excuse to not treat physical illnesses
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What can I do?
If you had a healthy childhood share it! It is important for people to understand what healthy families look like so they can model them in their own lives.
If you have a chronic illness, don't assume you must have trauma. If you do think you have PTSD consider where it comes from. Often much of chronically ill trauma comes from medical gaslighting and abuse.
If you do have trauma that you believe directly relates to your chronic illness acknowledge it as a personal experience. Be open to sharing with others but do not assume they will share your story. Just because an explanation works for you doesn't make it work for everyone.
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Acknowledgment:
Please know I have the utmost respect for those who have had the difficult task of working through childhood trauma. I want to thank and acknowledge my own family for being so incredibly supportive and giving me a childhood I can only in retrospect appreciate fully. I understand how prevalent it is in the autistic and chronic illness communities. I do not want to invalidate anyone's experiences or negate the value of working through your trauma in therapy. Improving your mental health in this way can have strong benefits in being able to care for your body. But blaming all chronic illnesses on trauma hurts all of us. Including victims of trauma. So I needed to make this post.
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I am severely chronically ill. Childhood trauma had nothing to do with it. Why is this such a controversial topic?
I want to start by saying that in no way are chronically ill people with trauma at fault here. They got dealt a crap hand on two levels and that is nothing besides extra unfair to them.
But the physicians and industries that profit off of claiming to be able to cure chronic illness through finding repressed or untreated trauma over scientifically supported therapies and cures, that I have a problem with.
I don't speak out about my healthy childhood as some sort of brag. I do it because it is a counterexample to the dozens of examples everywhere online saying the opposite. Because if even one person with a healthy childhood has a chronic illness it disproves the theory that all chronic illness is caused by trauma. Not to mention there are lots of people with childhood trauma who went on to live good lives despite it.
We know that chronic illnesses are physical. That fibromyalgia affects the immune system. That EDS creates dysautonomia and hEDS hypermobility. That MECFS changes mitochondrial function and blood flow to the brain. When we say "it's the trauma" we ignore real scientific findings that could help everyone.
Next time someone says it's psychological question their motives. Are they looking to sell a psychological treatment? Are they incapable of offering physical explanations for your disease? Are they ignoring symptoms that seem deeply rooted in your body? This is gaslighting.
The thing is, even though it is easier for me to speak out about this as someone with a healthy childhood I think it may harm people with unhealthy childhoods more. After all, when you really did have so many terrible things happen to you it's so much easier to give in to the narrative. To give in to the idea that your chronic illness is "damage" from your past.
So please, I am not saying don't heal your trauma, I am absolutely not saying don't get therapy. But don't peddle this myth just because it is comforting to you. Recognize that your life story is your life story, not scientific fact. It is more harmful than many recognize.
