If you’ve ever wondered, “Why do I feel like this?”, why certain fears, anxieties, or patterns keep recurring, whether it’s nervousness in presentations, job interviews, social situations, or everyday challenges, the answer often lies in early experiences, both direct and observed. IEMT provides a safe and effective path to resolution.
We often assume that only major childhood events, trauma, serious accidents, or abuse, shape our adult lives. Yet, seemingly minor experiences can leave a lasting emotional imprint. A brief moment of shame, embarrassment, or humiliation at school may appear insignificant from an adult perspective, but for a six-year-old at the time, it felt overwhelmingly real.
Even more, witnessing these moments happening to others, seeing a classmate laughed at, bullied, or embarrassed, can create a similarly strong imprint. Children’s brains absorb the emotional intensity of what they observe, creating patterns of fear, anxiety, or self-doubt that may last into adulthood.
How These Experiences Affect Adults
What seems small in childhood can have far-reaching consequences in adult life. Early emotional experiences, both direct and observed, shape the way we respond to challenges, social situations, and professional opportunities. Many adults struggle with issues such as:
- Feeling anxious or unprepared before presentations, meetings, or interviews
- Experiencing persistent self-doubt or a sense of “not good enough”
- Avoiding challenges due to fear of failure
- Feeling overly sensitive to criticism or easily embarrassed
- Experiencing social anxiety, nervousness in interviews, or difficulty asserting themselves
The frustrating part is that these struggles often appear disconnected from any obvious cause. Adults may feel nervous, self-critical, or inadequate without understanding why. In many cases, the roots of these reactions trace back to childhood experiences, either their own or those they witnessed.
At the time, a child’s brain experiences emotions intensely. Even brief moments that seem trivial now, like being laughed at in class or left out of a game, can be stored as powerful emotional imprints, shaping adult behaviour decades later.
Examples of Childhood Experiences That Can Cause Lasting Shame
Even small or witnessed moments can have a big emotional impact:
- Classroom embarrassment
- Putting your hand up and giving the wrong answer, or seeing a classmate laughed at, can create a sense of “I’m not good enough.”
- Sports or performance failures
- Falling during a school sports event, forgetting lines in a school play, or seeing a peer struggle publicly. Children often internalise these events as personal failure.
- Social exclusion
- Being left out of a game or club, or observing someone else being excluded. This can plant the seeds for social anxiety or fear of rejection.
- Parent or teacher criticism
- Receiving harsh feedback for something minor, or witnessing a sibling or peer criticised. Even well-meaning feedback can create lasting beliefs of inadequacy.
- Embarrassing physical experiences
- Tripping, spilling something, or experiencing a wardrobe malfunction, or seeing it happen to others. These moments may seem trivial but can leave a strong emotional imprint.
How IEMT Can Help
Integral Eye Movement Therapy (IEMT) provides a structured way to identify the original event, whether experienced directly or observed, and understand why it continues to influence behaviour. By locating these early imprint memories, IEMT helps the brain release the emotional charge, reducing or removing the emotional reaction.
Once processed, clients can approach situations, presentations, interviews, social settings, or everyday challenges, with clarity, confidence, and freedom from limiting patterns.
The brain’s response isn’t a flaw, it’s a protective mechanism. IEMT helps remove unnecessary protection, allowing the individual to live and respond without the weight of old emotions.
Why This Matters
Even minor or observed childhood experiences can shape adult behaviour. Recognising this helps adults understand that their patterns aren’t personal failings, they are the brain doing what it thought was necessary at the time.
If you’ve ever wondered why certain fears, anxieties, or patterns keep recurring, whether it’s nervousness in presentations, job interviews, social situations, or everyday challenges, these early experiences, direct or observed, are often at the root. IEMT provides a safe and effective path to resolution.
