Developmental Trauma Disorder is a new phrase used for children growing up with seriously adverse symptoms, like those seen in combat veterans with PTSD.

Attachment, Developmental Trauma and ACEs What is Attachment? Attachment refers to the emotional bond that we share with others. It “may be defined as an affectional tie that one person or animal forms between himself and another specific one – a tie that binds them together in space and endures over time” (p. 50, Ainsworth…

Learn how the brain works and how trauma exposure effects brain function, behavior, thought processes, and body systems in often permanent ways.

Attachment, Developmental Trauma and ACEs What is Attachment? Attachment refers to the emotional bond that we share with others. It “may be defined as an affectional tie that one person or animal forms between himself and another specific one – a tie that binds them together in space and endures over time” (p. 50, Ainsworth…

When children are exposed to trauma, the effects can be widespread and long-lasting, not only on behavioural and social skills, but also in the classroom. So, how can education leaders ensure their schools are trauma-informed?

Learn how the brain works and how trauma exposure effects brain function, behavior, thought processes, and body systems in often permanent ways.

Winner of the NAAP 2019 Gradiva (R) Award! Winner of the IAJS Book Award for Best Book published in 2019! Marian Dunlea's BodyDreaming in the Treatment of Developmental Trauma: An Embodied Therapeutic Approach provides a theoretical and practical guide for working with early developmental trauma. This interdisciplinary approach explores the interconnection of body, mind and psyche, offering a masterful tool for restoring balance and healing developmental trauma. BodyDreaming is a somatically focused therapeutic method, drawing on the findings of neuroscience, analytical psychology, attachment theory and trauma therapy. In Part I, Dunlea defines BodyDreaming and its origins, placing it in the context of a dysregulated contemporary world. Part II explains how the brain works in relation to the BodyDreaming approach: providing an accessible outline of neuroscientific theory, structures and neuroanatomy in attunement, affect regulation, attachment patterns, transference and countertransference, and the resolution of trauma throughout the body. In Part III, through detailed transcripts from sessions with clients, Dunlea demonstrates the positive impact of BodyDreaming on attachment patterns and developmental trauma. This somatic approach complements and enhances psychobiological, developmental and psychoanalytic interventions. BodyDreaming restores balance to a dysregulated psyche and nervous system that activates our innate capacity for healing, changing our default response of "fight, flight or freeze" and creating new neural pathways. Dunlea's emphasis on attunement to build a restorative relationship with the sensing body creates a core sense of self, providing a secure base for healing developmental trauma. Innovative and practical, and with a foreword by Donald E. Kalsched, BodyDreaming in the Treatment of Developmental Trauma: An Embodied Therapeutic Approach will be essential reading for psychotherapists, analytical psychologists and therapists with a Jungian background, arts therapists, dance and movement therapists, and body workers interested in learning how to work with both body and psyche in their practices. 4 Line drawings, black and white

One way to begin healing developmental trauma is to learn about what the founder of Polyvagal Theory Stephen Porges termed "neuroception."

Dr. Bruce Perry documents the brain science of how attachment problems can cause developmental trauma to a fetus, infant, or child -- as the brain is developing

Links between trauma and chronic illness. It's NOT psychological. The research shows how it's not your fault or all in your head. Types of trauma and risk

Developmental trauma is associated with an increased risk of psychosis and predicts poor prognosis. Despite this association, little is known about which treatments work best for survivors of developmental trauma with psychosis. We sought to do the first review, to our knowledge, to investigate treatments for people with psychotic and dissociative symptoms who have a history of developmental trauma. We searched MEDLINE, PsychINFO, and Google Scholar for studies reporting psychological and pharmacological treatments of psychotic or dissociative symptoms in adult survivors of developmental trauma.

Learn how the brain works and how trauma exposure effects brain function, behavior, thought processes, and body systems in often permanent ways.

Hitting a child for "discipline" doesn't work. New research shows that it actually leads to trauma.

Nurturing Resilience: Helping Clients Move Forward from Developmental Trauma--An Integrative Somatic Approach.

“Almost half the nation’s children have experienced at least one or more types of serious childhood trauma, according to a new survey on adverse childhood experiences by the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH). This translates into an estimated 34,825,978 children nationwide, say the researchers who analyzed the survey data.” - Jane Ellen Stevens , ACEsTooHigh.com Research on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) shows that people who suffer early childhood neglect and abuse get sick...

My child glanced back at me, and then reached over and grabbed your hand and kissed it. You smiled down at her and I could read your mind. “What a sweet and loving child”. I also knew …

Dr. Bessel van der Kolk and colleagues are calling for serious treatment of developmental trauma disorder (DTD) -- but the profession denies it exists.

Attachment, Developmental Trauma and ACEs What is Attachment? Attachment refers to the emotional bond that we share with others. It “may be defined as an affectional tie that one person or animal forms between himself and another specific one – a tie that binds them together in space and endures over time” (p. 50, Ainsworth…

What you can’t see, can hurt you. I'm grateful to Carolyn de Lorenzo for her Bustle post on Complex PTSD (C-PTSD), featured in the July 2 ACEsConnection Daily Digest: What Is Complex PTSD? There Isn’t Nearly Enough Awareness Around This Illness. She defines it as trauma "experienced over extended periods of time... before the age of 18 without reliable adult support.” Yet digging further, the root cause of C-PTSD is usually something deeper, "developmental trauma." Developmental trauma isn't...

Here's a free tool based on the Structural Dissociation Model developed by Kathy Steele, MN, CS, Onno van der Hart, PhD, and Ellert Nijenhuis, PhD which can help us work more effectively with patients who are experiencing dissociation.

In Focus Counseling receive many questions from prospective clients about trauma . Check out our approach to PTSD and OCD Treatment

Developmental trauma impacts the physical development of a child’s brain, affecting their mental health and more. But there are ways to help deal with it.

(click to download) We love science at Echo. It has been my greatest pleasure to share the science about the impact of trauma, including the changes that happen to the various systems of the body in our Trauma and Resilience trainings . The list is pretty exhaustive, and to try to make sense of it all, we’ve developed another of our popular infographics. Nervous system: This is where we focus a lot of our attention in trauma and recovery. The nervous system takes a beating when we live with...