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Can childhood trauma halt/stunt emotional growth?

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missnemesis | 11:15 Mon 25th Jul 2011 | Body & Soul
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At the age of 65 a member of my family is obviously an adult however, he is very childlike most of the time. He is always looking for attention, he talks non stop - usually about himself - and he clowns around thinking he is uber funny when he is just bl00dy annoying. Christmases and birthdays with him are just a nightmare with him getting torn in about his parcels (without bothering to find out who they're from) then everyone has to watch him use/read/play/try on with whatever it is. When it's time for others to open their gifts he doesn't care and just does the whole " but look, look my ??? does this, that, or the other".

Could list many more of his 'qualities' but you get the picture.

After spending time with him at the weekend then talking to my OH about it, it occurred to me that his behaviour is very much like that of an annoying child/teenager.

His mother died when he was 12.

Do you think there may be a connection between this childhood trauma and his incredibly narcissistic and childlike behavioural traits?
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not sure, but at 65, he's been himself for a long time and you are not going to be able to change him
My opinion?....No. Every emotional deviance from the "normal" is usually traced back to the child's upbringing or dysharmony of the parents to each other or to the victim.


Sit back now and read the psedo scientific explanations to the problem without a sgred of scientific evidence.

We are all different and act differently.
^^^^ shred^^^^
I totally agree with Bednobs, you have to accept him for who he is and stop trying to analyse why he is like this.

If he is happy and copes with day to day life, then let him be.
He may have Aspergers Syndrome, a form of Autism, which causes people to be very "me" centric and have trouble coping with the "outside world".

http://www.autism.org.uk/asperger
Couldn't he just be a common or garden.....extrovert?

But....we do like names of diseases.....more impressive.
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bednobs, more's the pity ;-)

sqad, perhaps no scientific evidence but I think it's maybe a factor.

"If he is happy and copes with day to day life, then let him be" Problem with that though mamya is that he inflicts it on everybody else and fails to appreciate that others may not share his 'enthusiasm' for life revolving around him.
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Lol I'm not saying it's a disease/disorder/syndrome sqad, just wondered if he might be subconsciously (sp?) emotionally hanging on to 'better times'
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At the risk of seeming flippant VHG he certainly does live in his own wee 'bubble' and the real world seems not to penetrate at times.
Poor thing. I feel sorry for him. Don't you? It is normal behaviour for him so you will just have to accept it. Too late to change him now. If he is enjoying life what the heck?
misnemessi...LOL maybe!...maybe!

I am just off to my Club now......any suggestions about the significance of that? ;-)
I don't know if there is a connection, I would imagine that's a question for a professional to answer if one was required, (at 65, I think it's a bit late in the day').

However, in response to the header of your question then I can answer a bit about that. I atteneded a talk a few months back regarding neglect and one of the speakers was from the psychs and he showed brain scans which demonstrated the physical difference between the brain of a normally developing child and that of a child who had suffered neglect (I believe it was the first five years or so), it clearly showed that certain areas were smaller/bigger etc... I think this is because the brain does not develop the pathways it does when we are interacted with by our parents because those parts of the brain are not stimulated when children are neglected. The extremely unfortunate side of this is they grown in to children who are not only hard to engage but also not very engaging themselves because they lack the appropraite responses, because they're not particularly engaging children, they can be overlooked. Fortunately with lots of care and love, these tide can be turned. But yes, there is a physical difference.
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You don't really want me to answer that sqad ;-)
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CD, thanks for your answer, it makes interesting reading and also a lot of sense.

The brain is indeed a strange but wonderfully complicated thing.
Tolerance is a wonderful thing as well ;)
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