Aftershocks: Childhood abuse lives on, creating sleepless nights

It has long been understood that negative childhood experiences and abuse can cause the sufferer problems long after the abuse has ended. Abuse can be sexual, physical, or emotional, but the results are often the same. Problems with relationships, substance abuse, and post-traumatic stress disorder often continue to plague adult survivors of childhood abuse.

While some abuse is overt and extreme, other forms of abuse are more subtle. It’s easy to write these “lesser” forms of abuse off as “no big deal,” but a wide variety of adverse childhood experiences can create problems in adulthood.

A recent study performed at the University Psychiatric Clinics in Basel, Switzerland set out to discover a link between these adverse childhood experiences and primary insomnia. Primary insomnia is insomnia that cannot be explained as the result of a medical condition.

Study subjects were questioned about adverse childhood experiences, stress levels, predisposition toward increased arousability, and depression. Stress, depression, and sensitivity to arousal are all known components of primary insomnia, and researchers wanted to compare these factors with adverse childhood experiences.

The subjects were then monitored for 7 consecutive nights to evaluate sleep activity. Results showed a definite link between adverse childhood experiences and inability to fall asleep, inefficient sleep, and bodily arousal during sleep. Primary insomnia appears to be a result of long-lasting stressful childhood experiences.

The reasons could have something to do with hypervigilance. When children experience repeated long-term stress and abuse, they develop the feeling that they must always be on their toes, on the lookout for attack. This hypervigilance is associated with a number of long-term problems including eating disorders and workaholism. It creates two issues.

First, the hypervigilant abuse survivor feels they must maintain perfection in order to avoid punishment. Second, they feel they must keep a watchful eye out for the possibility of further abuse. If a child was repeatedly abused around bedtime or after they went to sleep, this could intensify the feeling that sleep isn’t safe.

It could also be a result of various emotional disorders that often plague abuse survivors including anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

This information may provide some hope for those suffering with insomnia. Those who suffered overt abuse may already have seen the link between past experiences and their current sleep problems. Those who are at a loss to explain their insomnia may want to investigate the possibility that childhood experiences are still having an effect.

Abuse isn’t always obvious. Regular blows to self-esteem by parents, inappropriate boundary setting by parents, repeated bullying, and childhood problems with peers can all contribute to low feelings of self-worth and show up as abuse symptoms later. Tackling the emotional issues left over from negative childhood experiences may be the key to overcoming primary insomnia.

© Copyright 2007 Insight Journal Online Magazine.

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