Childhood abuse in all its forms, directions and intensities seems to be in the epicenter of our human psyche. Almost everything significant seems to be passing through it or related to it.
The reason that it is so vivid is because it is not past traumas from childhood or other lives. They are current timeless experiences and are not necessarily personally related.
Also the nature and severity of the “traumas” don’t seem to be always important as they frequently magnify in order to focus our attention on them.
The abuse includes physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, emotional abuse restricting speech, movement, thoughts, feelings, emotions, trust, self-empowerment.
Childhood abuse is so strong because in Soul’s timeless experience it is current, is happening now – not at some other time where it is irrelevant to the present. This is why it haunts our lives in the present – not because we cannot overcome a past trauma, but because it is happening in a present parallel reality.
Every adult consciously or unconsciously suffers from a childhood trauma, no matter of its nature, origin, intensity or distance in time. Perhaps because of the 5th house and Leo astrological significance childhood is so fundamental in empowerment that any trauma associated with it cripples that empowerment.

When an adult abuses a child, in fact causes a self-abuse and most of the times with the intention to punish himself.

All childhood traumas have been experienced as caused or associated with adults, who in a child’s psyche represent a trusted ever-wise god-like authority who guides, protects and loves the child. Any trauma caused or perceived to be caused by an adult to a child severe the link with God undermining trust in life, trust in oneself and builds an underlying guilt, blame & judgment.
Because a child finds difficult to comprehend the righteousness of an adult’s action which makes him/her confused & powerless, as an adult he experiences the same in his relationship with his perceived creator, his perception of God .
The interpretation of that confusion & powerlessness eventually converts to feeling mistrust, lack of recognition, envy, betrayal, sacrifice or abandonment
However because  a human soul lives simultaneously the childhood and adulthood experience , they affect each other & reaffirm the existence of each other in an endless loop. This is probably the core essence of karma although it is a karma we built within and not in relation to the others. The others’ ” external” existence simply serves as a reflection of our world.
As long we as children feel guilty because we have failed an adult or have been mistrusted, disregarded , sacrificed, betrayed or abandoned by an adult, we relive that experience as adults triggering not only inner feelings but also external circumstances and events involving others in order to revalidate those experiences but now in relation to God.

We feel guilt or blame because we have failed God or God failed us, God does not trust us or we don’t trust him, God disregards us or we disregard him, God sacrificed us or we sacrificed him, God betrayed us or we betrayed him, God abandoned us or we abandoned him.
These adult experiences then serve as triggers for new unavoidable childhood experiences and the karmic loop continues self-feeding the vibrational frequency that locks our entire human experience as determined by the soul dimension.

This is why preservation of childhood with no abuse of any kind is fundamental to our species vibrational evolution