Mental health articles

Trauma Informed
In a trauma-informed approach, the impact of women’s previous experiences on their current well-being and functioning are recognized and respected. Experiences
of violence and trauma may have lifelong effects on how women feel about themselves and in their relationships with others, including their children. Past experiences may shape a mother’s expectations for current and new experiences, as well as contribute to the motivation to do things differently. As one mother described, “I’ve made a real effort to break those cycles and not repeat the things
that my mother went through and put us through.” Another mother reported, “I have learned a lot about what went on in my childhood to give me, um. . .I was living
emotionally and I learned how not to do that. So I’ve been able to catch the kids in their emotions like I was trained.” This mother gained insight into the impact of her childhood experiences of abuse on the way she dealt with her children. She was able to modify her own responses as a parent and help her children learn better ways of
coping in the process.

Mothers who are trauma survivors may appear overprotective of their children.
For example, they may make sure their children are safe by never allowing them to play outside in the neighborhood. Alternatively, other mothers may appear disinterested
in their children, depending on the approach they adopt to keeping their children safe and the ways in which they deal with their own pain. For example, as one mother indicated, “I just try to distance myself if she’s really crying and I’m irritable” or, as spoken by another mother, “I’ll go downstairs for some distance and take a deep breath and then go back” so as not to repeat the hurtful things their
own mothers did to them. Knowing when to attend or respond to children and when to take a “time out” to monitor one’s own emotional reactions is a sophisticated
parenting skill. Mothers who are trauma survivors may be helped by insight into the patterns of their lives and in relationships, and the ways in which these emerge in parenting their children.

Tags: trauma