When people think about childhood trauma, they often imagine experiences such as abuse, violence, or significant family dysfunction. While these experiences can certainly contribute to depression later in life, there is another form of childhood adversity that often goes unnoticed: emotional neglect.

For many people, depression doesn’t show up as constant sadness. It can feel like numbness, exhaustion, heaviness, or a quiet sense of disconnection—from others, from joy, even from oneself.