Emotional baggage

Emotional baggage is an idiom that generally refers to unresolved psychological trauma such as stressors, trust issues, fears, paranoia, guilt, regret, despair or grief that are usually detrimental to one's overall mental well-being and social relationships. The unresolved trauma can be rooted in issues such as emotional abuse, childhood trauma or prior stressful events.

As a metaphor, the term refers to one's carrying of the collective emotional load of the past into the present moment.