This post is part of a series on adverse childhood experiences. Read the other parts here.

Life is difficult, even under the best of circumstances. It can be especially challenging for those who have survived adverse childhood experiences, ACEs—such as abuse, neglect, or living in a chaotic home. ACEs greatly increase the risk for a wide range of mental conditions (such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder), as well as medical problems ranging from autoimmune disorders to heart disease and cancer.

However, a difficult past need not result in an unhappy future. We have learned much from resilient survivors who have learned how to change the trajectories of their difficult pasts. This post explores ways to create a brighter future, despite the pain you’ve experienced in the past.

1. Acknowledge and heal the hidden wounds from toxic childhood experiences. Troubling memories from ACEs reside not so much in the verbal, logical left brain, but in the non-verbal, visual right brain, which its strong connections to the emotional and survival regions of the brain. This understanding explains why talk therapy is not usually the best starting place for healing from ACEs. Newer strategies can be very effective for healing (see Schiraldi, 2021). For example,........

© Psychology Today