Childhood Trauma; or, ‘IT’

Demons of the past have a way of luring us back to the places that we are often too afraid to voyage. This is the basic premise of the film ‘IT’, based on the novel by Stephen King, originally screened as a made-for-TV movie and most recently modernized for today’s audiences into a two-part feature film. For those who haven’t seen the older or newer versions *SPOILER ALERT* Let’s start with ‘IT: Chapter One’. On the surface the horror aspect of the film is represented by the nefarious clown known as Pennywise, who terrorizes several childhood friends each with a traumatic past that is eventually revealed as the story progresses (guilt from the loss of a sibling, an abusive father, witnessing the death of one’s family, an overbearing mother with munchausen’s syndrome by proxy, denial of desire/a secret, and being a victim of relentless bullying) . Who is Pennywise, and why does he terrorize these poor children? The film briefly describes Pennywise’s origin/history; however, it is the power of allegory that truly explains this creature’s frightening presence. Pennywise is a representation of childhood trauma: ‘IT’. Confused? Allow me to explain: often we have experiences in life that haunt us that can be too painful to name or even think about (trauma). If we cannot describe our trauma it may feel like it benefits us to refer to that experience as a “thing” or an “it” in order to distance ourselves from the emotions that surround it. This emotional distancing reveals itself to be ineffective particularly when we reach major life milestones that are characterized by transitional periods in which growth, maturity, and change occur. We may have difficulty in reaching the milestone or maturing as there is something that seems to be holding us back. What is the path forward? How do we defeat ‘IT’? Is there a way to conquer Pennywise? This brings us to ‘IT: Chapter Two’. The children who survived Pennywise are now adults and decide to band together by returning to their hometown for the purposes of ending the torment that the evil clown has caused. Returning to the traumatic moment in our memory and feeling the depth of the painful emotion in which the memory is associated turns out to be the best way to overcome and heal from trauma. Only when we fully feel the pain stemming from the horrifying event are we then able to apply new meaning to that experience and build resilience for paving that path forward to a brighter present and future. Feeling that past pain (fear, anger, sadness, terror, shame, etc) allows for a purging of emotions; or, catharsis to occur. After the catharsis, an opportunity manifests itself for a belief to be created that acts as a force to conquer a previously held unsustainable conviction. In other words, giving the pain a new name allows us to transform how we prior thought about the experience of trauma. ‘IT’ no longer haunts us because ‘IT’ is now [enter new meaning/understanding of the past experience here]. The triumph over our trauma turns out to be in our ability to be honest about what we felt, when we felt it, as well as our ability to rewrite our own personal story/memory to describe the power of the journey we took to overcome emotional anguish as opposed to the power the emotional anguish held over us.

Should you need assistance in processing a past traumatic experience please feel free to explore AdamGWalterbach.com or contact me directly at ‪(720) 551-5863.

Our pasts do not define us, we define our pasts. You are not alone.