Developmental Trauma is a political issue that has caused controversy among professionals, particularly those revising the 2013 Diagnostic & Statistical Manual. The Long Shadow of Trauma, a lead article in the March/April 2010 issue of Psychotherapy Networker (www.psychotherapynetworker.org) chronicles the politicization of developmental trauma as a diagnosis. Mary Sykes Wylie, the senior editor of the magazine, describes in great detail the focused efforts of many professionals to get Developmental Trauma Disorder included in the revised DSM V (Diagnostic Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association).
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What is Developmental Trauma?
Developmental trauma is the result of abandonment, abuse, and neglect during the first three years of a child’s life that disrupts cognitive, neurological and psychological development and attachment to adult caregivers. Developmental trauma, a new term in the field of mental health, has roots in both developmental psychology and traumatology. Developmental trauma is inflicted on infants and children unconsciously and most often without malicious intent by adult caregivers who are unaware of children’s social and emotional needs.
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Moving From The Trauma Track To The LOVEvolution Track
Barry K. & Janae B. Weinhold
Moving to the LOVEvolution track from the Trauma Track involves modifying the relational template hardwired into your brain during the first three years of your life. Movement from one track of life experience to the other also requires loving and supportive relationships that modify your brain function, and ultimately, your original relational template.
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Developmental Shock
Developmental shock experiences happen without any conscious control or effort because they are regulated by the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system has three parts: the parasympathetic, sympathetic and Social Engagement System. These parts all work together to help people maintain an internal sense of emotional balance.
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Developmental Trauma
Developmental trauma is a breakthrough term that draws from both the fields of developmental psychology and traumatology. Developmental trauma is unconsciously inflicted on infants and children and most often without malicious intent by adult caregivers who are unaware of children’s social and emotional needs. Our definition of developmental trauma recognizes the chronic effects of subtle emotional events that draw no attention from adult caregivers and provide no relief for children’s symptoms.
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Developmental Shock, Trauma & Intractable Conflict
Early experiences involving developmental shock, trauma and stress form the foundation for intractable conflict in adult relationships. Developmental psychologist John Bowlby said in 1969 that early relational experiences create a child’s internal working model of reality. Longitudinal research by Krause & Haverkamp in 1996 indicated that the internal working model of reality remains virtually unchanged through a person’s lifetime unless there are focused interventions such as counseling to change it.
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