.webp)
Childhood Trauma and Emotional EQ
Children who grow up in dysfunctional family systems do not develop emotional EQ. They miss important developmental milestones because they are busy putting all of their energy into survival. This leads to children who grow up to become Adult children also known as the Adult Child. An adult child is an adult that still has the maturity of a child.
Feelings are role modelled by our caregivers
If you grew up in a home where your caregiver raged at you or stonewalled at you, as a child you would have believed that you are responsible for your caregiver's anger or any other feeling that they are projecting onto you.Functional adults, however, take responsibility for their feelings and do not project them onto others. They do not post nasty messages on social media when they are mad at someone. Functional adults do not write nasty emails to the person when they are upset because they believe the person deserves to read it. Functional adults do not rage at their children or partners. Functional adults do not blame others for how they are feeling. They do not gossip behind the person's back or try to align others against the person they are mad at. They simply take responsibility for their anger."Wait ... what? so then you are saying whenever I feel mad it's not the other person's fault? "No! Someone could have done something to you that makes you mad and it's understandable why you are mad, it's just not mature to take it out on that person.Children take their feelings out on others.Functional adults do not take their feelings out on others.
ACOA
If you believe you are an adult child, ACOA or CODA is a wonderful support system for you. This support group will give you tools on how to regulate feelings.
Anger's Job
In order to take responsibility for our feelings, we have to first understand what feelings jobs are.I will use anger as an example.Anger has the following jobsA) to right an unjust actB) to protect us from fearC) to protect us from feeling hurtD) to help us meet a goal.The next time you are angry at someone and you believe it's another person's fault and therefore this justifies getting angry and acting out at them.Ask yourselfAm I hurt?What am I afraid of?Am I angry because I can't meet my goal ( Road Rage)How can I obtain justice for myself or at a global level? How can I make this right ( Social Justice)?Anger can save our life especially in the case of a fight-flight response i.e, fire, attack or wild animal. Rage is hardwired to protect us.Anger can help us to stay away from those who bully or harm us.Anger can motivate us to make something unjust right. Civil rights movements.The next time someone has done something that has hurt you ask yourself, What kind of boundary do I need to set with this person in order to protect myself from this happening again? This solves the problem and prevents you from falling into the blame game.If you are an adult child it won't be easy to take responsibility for your feelings but it can be done with patience and practice.EMDR for Childhood Trauma© Crystal Arber
