ONLINE GROUP PSYCHOTHERAPY FOR ADULTS WHO WERE VICTIMS OF CHILDHOOD ABUSE: 10 SESSIONS ON ZOOM
ONLINE GROUP PSYCHOTHERAPY FOR ADULTS WHO WERE VICTIMS OF CHILDHOOD ABUSE: 10 SESSIONS ON ZOOM
How can childhood traumas predispose adults to greater vulnerability in developing depression, dissociative symptoms, anxiety, or substance abuse? What are the childhood traumas that can compromise a healthy attachment relationship? What are internal working models, and what is the difference between secure and insecure attachment behavior? In this article, I will provide a description of my project, consisting of 10 meetings on the Zoom platform, aimed at adults who wish to work therapeutically in a group to heal from childhood abuse.
As Martin Teicher (2000) wrote: “Maltreatment and abuse produce scars that are difficult to heal, or perhaps never completely heal.”
The early years of life are fundamental for the development of an adult who must have good self-esteem, a positive self-representation in relation to others, and respect for life and its value. This condition changes when a child suffers abuse during this sensitive stage. The wounds that accompany their growth then become dangerous due to the potential effects they will have in adulthood. One of the most serious aspects of such abuse lies in the fact that it is perpetrated by caregivers—those who should protect and care for the child. This trauma triggers relational problems in adulthood, characterized by distrust of others and of partners, showing how, once the ability to trust is lost in early childhood, it becomes almost impossible—except through therapeutic work—to become an adult capable of building stable and constructive relationships. The distrust leads to relational acting out (distancing, rejection after an initial phase of closeness, idealization and devaluation, dependency and avoidance). When such traumas occur in childhood, their effects may manifest as substance abuse, anxiety disorders, depression, dissociative disorders, or suicidal ideation. This framework shows how necessary it is to intervene promptly, to help adults with unhappy childhoods work through their traumatic experiences, and to repair that painful past that still interferes in their lives through self-destructive behaviors—even though they are now grown adults whose problems lie in their past.
My project aspires to help many formerly traumatized children, now adults still wounded by their family histories, who need to express themselves and share within a group setting that can serve as a container for reworking their experiences.
Childhood trauma and emotional wounds of those with unhappy childhoods
When I talk about psychological trauma, I refer to all those situations in which an event causes helplessness, pain, and a state of vulnerability that alters the individual’s psychic life. In one of my blog articles (“Childhood psychological trauma and its consequences on development: the role of attachment in the transmission of trauma and its effects on the psyche”), I mentioned several scientific studies showing that experiences of maltreatment (neglect, overprotection, miscare, physical and psychological abuse, sexual abuse, witnessing violence) during childhood lead to increased vulnerability to developing dissociative symptoms, depression, and anxiety. I also highlighted the importance of the attachment relationship established in the early years between child and caregiver, and how traumatic experiences impair the formation of mirror neurons, negatively influencing introspective and empathic abilities, as well as relational capacities of both the child and the future adult. For this reason, it is crucial to focus on the traumas and wounds that have compromised the possibility of establishing secure attachment relationships between caregiver and child, which provide the sense of security and trust in life and the world that is present in the childhood of securely attached adults.
Types of trauma
- Micro-traumas: stressful situations marking the child’s growth without adequate support, leaving the adult insecure about early negative feelings.
- Physical and psychological abuse: including sexual abuse, beatings, psychological manipulation such as gaslighting; adults who survived these often struggle with self-esteem and relational trust.
- Traumatic events: experiences threatening the child’s survival, producing PTSD symptoms such as flashbacks and nightmares.
- Domestic violence: growing up in unpredictable, violent environments leads to fear of forming families and relational isolation.
- Abandonment wound: unmet needs for care and closeness, being raised by substitutes or abandoned by parents; adults may become emotionally dependent or avoidant.
- Rejection wound: hostility and rejection by parents leading to lifelong self-rejection, loneliness, and isolation.
- Injustice wound: unequal treatment among siblings, creating scapegoats; adults develop pessimism, insecurity, and a constant sense of being mistreated.
- Betrayal wound: broken promises or parental abandonment; adults develop control issues and difficulty trusting others.
- Humiliation wound: harsh scolding, comparisons, and belittlement leading to inadequacy, low self-esteem, and social anxiety.
- Fear of the unknown: forced exposure to frightening situations (e.g., water, darkness), leading to adult anxiety and insecurity toward change.
Project description: the importance of therapeutic group work with adults to heal unhappy childhoods
In this project, I emphasize the importance for adults who were wounded in childhood to work therapeutically both individually and in groups. Group settings are often underestimated, yet they provide an empathetic space for sharing and can be cathartic and regenerating in the process of working through trauma. For adults who experienced childhood abuse, groups become a way to work on their compromised attachment relationships.
John Bowlby was the first to theorize the importance of attachment. In A Secure Base (1988), he described attachment as essential for a child’s survival, driven by the need for proximity, protection, affection, and sensitivity from caregivers. A responsive caregiver fosters secure attachment; an unresponsive one leads to insecure attachment. Research has shown the centrality of internal working models—mental representations of self and others formed in childhood that guide expectations in relationships. Secure attachment fosters a sense of worthiness and trust in others; insecure attachment produces anger, anxiety, and insecurity.
Thus, for traumatized adults, healing requires transforming insecure into secure attachment patterns through therapeutic group work. Transforming internal working models improves relational, emotional, and social functioning. In my project, the group is conceived as a container of trust, warmth, empathy, and acceptance, where participants feel safe and respected, and where they can reprocess traumas by finding new meaning through resonance with others’ stories. Each participant contributes to mutual healing by sharing and empathizing.
The online psychotherapy group for adults wishing to heal from childhood abuse consists of 10 Zoom meetings. Its purpose is to help formerly traumatized children work on dysfunctional relational patterns as adults, improving their relationships and quality of life. For many, repeated relational failures cause feelings of helplessness. The group, however, offers a way out of loneliness and helplessness by creating the conditions for healing—transforming dysfunctional relational schemas into functional ones.
As Carlos Ruiz Zafón wrote: “One of the pitfalls of childhood is that it’s not necessary to understand something in order to feel it. By the time the mind can grasp what has happened, the wounds of the heart are already too deep.”
Bibliography
- Bowlby J. (1988): Una base sicura. Applicazioni cliniche della teoria dell’attaccamento. Raffaelo Cortina Editore. Milano.
- Cancrini (2012): La cura delle infanzie infelici. Viaggio nell’origine dell’oceano borderline. Raffaello Cortina Editore, Milano.
- Cancrini L. (2017): Ascoltare i bambini. Psicoterapia delle infanzie negate. Raffaello Cortina Editore, Milano.
- Crittenden Patricia M. (1999): Attaccamento in età adulta, l’approccio dinamico-maturativo all’Adult Attachment Interview. Raffaello Cortina Editore, Milano.
