Contents
- «If something bad happened to you when you were little, it will mark you all your life»: the lie behind this phrase
- Psychology
- The psychologists Inés Santos and Laura Rodríguez, from the team of ‘In Mental Balance’ explain what is hidden behind this false statement about the harsh or traumatic situations experienced in childhood
«If something bad happened to you when you were little, it will mark you all your life»: the lie behind this phrase
Psychology
PM3:37Imagine that you travel to an alien planet, full of aliens. You don’t understand the language, the norms, the culture… you don’t even understand their jokes. During the trip you will gradually learn how this new world works and how its inhabitants perceive you in order to adapt. You will have beautiful situations, but you will also experience painful situations…. Fortunately, you travel to that planet with guides like you. caretakers (fathers, mothers, uncles, tutors, teachers, doctors …), who are the ones who will help you understand and gradually acquire a series of strategies to face difficulties.
In some way this that we have just told is similar to the trip we make during the childhood. Obviously each experience will be part of the photo album, they cannot be erased no matter how painful they are, but they will not necessarily mark who you are and how you face life. That will depend, among other things, on whether or not you were able to resolve those situations with <strong>success</strong>. It will also depend on the supports you have had and the ratio between unpleasant situations, pleasant situations and the coping strategies that you have acquired.
If during our childhood We have lived through many complicated situations, it will be more likely that we think that this world is dangerous and that we do not fit in with its inhabitants. But what if, throughout the trip, the landscape changes and becomes more friendly? This is the key. We have the ability, after suffering a trauma, to seek other ways to continue developing our personality. And also, as we grow, we have more and more choice, more strategies to deal with rainy days and more capacity to transform the world in which we live.
Throughout our history we are adding pages to our album that will make the idea we had of the world and of ourselves change. We will not always be the same, our childhood will not define us in the future, nor does what we do in the present define us. What we do today will define us tomorrow.
The psychologist Laura Rodríguez Mondragón combines her work as a psychotherapist with adolescents, young people, adults and couples with the completion of her Doctoral Thesis on ‘Eating Behavior and Personality Disorders’ at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM). There he completed the Master in General Health Psychology. She has also been a tutor of master’s degree practices at the Autonomous University of Madrid and the Pontifical University of Comillas.
He has conducted various research and prevention programs for online grooming and self-harm in adolescents, among others. He has experience in working with groups at risk of social exclusion.
For her part, Inés Santos, who is also part of the ‘In Mental Balance’ team, has a degree in Psychology from the Complutense University of Madrid and specialized in Evidence-based Clinical Psychology, Child-Adolescent Behavior Therapy and Family Therapy Systemic She is currently doing her thesis on gender differences in Ddpressive disorders and has participated in numerous national and international conferences.
She has extensive experience in teaching, as a supervisor of the PsiCall Telematic Psychological Care Service of the UCM and a tutor in the Master’s Degree in General Health Psychology of the UCM, as well as a professor at the European University. In addition, she is the author of different clinical psychology guides, such as’ Guide against hate speech and radicalization, we are more ‘,’ Guide for teachers’, ‘Help guides for refugees from Syria’, or ‘Psychological problems in young people university students’.