#TherapistBriefs

When trauma results from a specific event(s) and meets the criteria of re-experiencing, flashbacks, avoiding, nightmares, etc., it is generally diagnosed as PTSD or Complex PTSD in the case of multiple traumas. If rooted in an overall unsafe and harmful childhood environment, trauma may be identified as developmental trauma. Developmental trauma refers to a series of chronic traumatic events, habits, and associations causing overwhelming stress during childhood. 

A primary component of developmental trauma includes the absence or inability of a caregiver to effectively help reduce the stress. This results in a disruption in emotional regulation achieved through secure attachment, necessary for developing the sense of safety and security that is critical to healthy brain and body development in early childhood. This may include but is not limited to chronic abuse, neglect, an unsafe home environment, drug or alcohol abuse by caregivers, disorganized family systems, severe poverty, racial disparity or other serious hardships experienced during childhood.

Developmental trauma is often used interchangeably with Complex PTSD, however, trauma experts are working to clarify it as distinct in many important ways.

·  Developmental trauma is not rooted in a traumatic event like PTSD or stacked specific events like Complex PTSD and does not always lead to meeting all of the criteria for PTSD.

·  In fact, research shows over 50% of people do not show signs of trauma until they are adults. This can make identifying a specific traumatic event challenging and because of this, individuals with developmental trauma often feel shame, confusion, and frustration at understanding why they feel the way they do.

·  Along with many of the symptoms of PTSD, individuals with developmental trauma may also experience a chronic history of serious dysregulation in their relationships/attachments, attention, self-esteem/ self-image, body image, self-regulation and affect.

·  Negative health outcomes are also a common complaint of individuals with developmental trauma, as proven by the ACE Study.. 

Brainspotting’s fluid and dual attunement approach makes it highly effective at treating both developmental trauma and PTSD. In developmental trauma, especially if before the age of two, much of the traumatic information stored is sensory and nonverbal, therefore, it is common for the client to have difficulty putting into words all that has happened. What then happens in Brainspotting is that new insights emerge, internal shifts happen, and the issue feels neutralized or released for the client. This may happen over the course of the session or in the hours, days, weeks that follow as both emotional/mental and physiological processing may continue past the session experience.