10 ways how childhood trauma and impulsivity impact your spending habits
Many adults struggle with impulsive spending habits that seem difficult to control or explain. Emerging research shows that experiences of childhood trauma can play a significant role in shaping emotional regulation and decision-making skills later in life.
Adverse Childhood Experiences ACEs are stressful or traumatic events in childhood, such as abuse, neglect, or living in a dysfunctional household (e.g. with domestic violence, mental illness, or divorce). These may affect various aspects of life if not dealt with timely, and professional help may be needed for some.(Image: Canva)
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Affect Your Mental Health People who go through trauma at an early age may face mental health problems including anxiety, depression, and may find it difficult to manage their emotions. These can begin affecting daily activities and may lead to negative emotions and intrusive thoughts.(Image: Canva)
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Impulsive Spending Impulsive spending means buying things suddenly without planning, which is often done to feel better or relieve emotional stress. While this may feel like a fix, it is only a temporary way of forgetting about trauma, and pushing down feelings rather than dealing with them.(Image: Canva)
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Trauma, Spending Link The study found that people with more childhood trauma were more likely to spend money impulsively as adults. Whether it is buying for oneself or others, retail therapy may not always be the best way to handle your trauma. It is crucial to talk about your feelings with someone.(Image: Canva)
Trauma Increases Impulsivity Those who faced childhood trauma may also be more likely to act on impulse and struggle to think before making decisions. Due to such negative experiences, the regulatory resources may become depleted, thus making it difficult to control behaviour.(Image: Canva)
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Difficulty Managing Emotions Childhood trauma is linked to trouble handling emotions, which may lead to unhealthy coping methods like overspending. Emotion dysregulation may also lead to affected individuals failing to modulate their negative emotions and alleviate them.(Image: Canva)
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The Strong Link Studies say there is a strong link between childhood trauma, impulsivity, emotion dysregulation, and impulsive spending. Not only this, people with childhood trauma may also show features of avoidant behaviour, and may delay facing their real feelings and emotions.(Image: Canva)
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Therapy Can Help Therapies like mindfulness and dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) may help people improve their self-control and manage emotions better. It is necessary to take a step and speak about the trauma to a professional, and learn to manage the impulsivity that arises due to the same.(Image: Canva)
Why It Matters Research suggests that helping people deal with past trauma and improve emotional skills could reduce impulsive spending. There are a number of group therapies also available that may be considered. Having some shared experience with other people may be helpful for some, and make it easier to talk to them.(Image: Canva)
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Childhood Trauma and PTSD Childhood trauma may predict many facets of impulsivity, like positive and negative urgency, and a lack of perseverance as well. Such trauma has also been known to be associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. Interventions that specifically deal with such emotional urgency may be needed.(Image: Canva) Disclaimer: This article, including health and fitness advice, only provides generic information. Don’t treat it as a substitute for qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist for specific health diagnosis
Rajeshwaari Kalla is a freelance health and wellness writer
