Article:How States Become Traits (from Child Trauma Academy)

January 9, 2010

Here's an interesting article from the Child Trauma Academy website about the

neurobiology of child maltreatment; how traumatized states in the developing

child's brain can become traits in adulthood.

It seems to me that being " raised " by a nada--no matter where a particular

nada happens to fall on the continuum of BPD severity--is sufficient in itself

to qualify as a major trauma to a developing child,since in various ways having

a nada is the same as not having a mother at all.Factor in attendent abuse

issues and it becomes a complex trauma.The author of this article fails to

specify emotional abuse--but I think that all the points he raises apply equally

to the trauma that results from the chaos and unpredictibility of emotional

abuse.And that the most important point he is making here is how being raised in

an aversive,unsafe environment disrupts the natural course of the developing

brain--as far as I'm concerned furnishing a biologically compelling argument as

to why nadas cannot and should not ever raise children...And he does mention a

couple of times that some of this stuff is " irreversible " or " insensitive " to

the mediation of later experience--I don't personally believe that--I get the

impression from the article that this guy really cares and is trying to make

strong statements that will be heard,more than sounding a note of hopelessness.

Here are some excerpts from the article.A link to it is below.

" Adults interpret the actions, words and expressions of children through

the distorting filter of their own beliefs. In the lives of most infants and

children these common adult misinterpretations are relatively benign. In many

cases, however, these misinterpretations can be destructive. The most dramatic

example occurs when the impact of traumatic events on infants and young children

is minimized. It is an ultimate irony that at the time when the human is most

vulnerable to the effects of trauma -- during infancy and childhood -- adults

generally presume the most resilience. "

" This destructive misperception has permeated the mental health field. In the

last ten years, our society has spent billions of dollars studying and treating

adult trauma victims, primarily male combat veterans -- this despite the fact

that many more females are traumatized by rape in our society than males by

combat. In comparison, few resources have been dedicated to research or

treatment focusing on childhood trauma, and only a fraction of those on studying

or treating the traumatized infant (, 1994a; , 1995). "

" The purpose of this paper is to discuss various aspects of the impact of

traumatic experiences on infants and young children focusing specificically on

the relationships between neurodevelopment and traumatic experience. The

conceptual views articulated in this paper represent an evolving understanding

based upon our extensive clinical experience with young children and infants who

have been severely traumatized (n = 175). To some extent, these conceptual views

are based upon well-established principles of neurodevelopment applied within

the context of less clearly delineated ideas (and data) emerging in the field of

traumatology. This is intended as only a preliminary perspective to guide future

studies in the clinical phenomenology and neurobiology of child maltreatment "

" The simple and unavoidable result of this sequential neurodevelopment is that

the organizing, sensitive brain of an infant or young children is more malleable

to experience than a mature brain. While experience may alter the behavior of an

adult, experience literally provides the organizing framework for an infant and

child. Because the brain is most plastic (receptive to environmental input) in

early childhood, the child is most vulnerable to variance of experience during

this time "

" The human body and human mind have sets of very primitive, deeply ingrained

physical and mental responses to threat (Appendix 1: Key Points: The Response to

Trauma). These physiological and mental reactions to danger have been best

characterized in adult humans or animal models. The most familiar set of

responses to threat has been labeled the 'fight or flight' reaction. Indeed,

despite a great deal of animal and descriptive clinical data in humans

illustrating the heterogeneity of the response to stress (Mason, 1971;

Goldstein, 1995), a inordinate clinical focus has been placed on the 'fight or

flight' response -- a pattern commonly seen in adult, male mammals (Cannon,

1914; Selye, 1936). "

" There are, of course, other response-sets to threat. Indeed, infants and

children are much less likely to use a classic 'fight or flight' response -- it

is not very practical. At different stages of development, and in the face of

different stressors, response patterns will vary. Two major neuronal response

patterns important for the traumatized child, the hyperarousal continuum and the

dissociative continuum, are described below "

http://www.childtrauma.org/ctamaterials/states_traits.asp

January 9, 2010

Fascinating information, ; thanks for sharing that article and link.

It just reinforces my opinion that the unstable, emotionally labile, cognitively

warped, volatile, unpredictable (projecting, demanding, controlling,

narcissistic, unempathetic, etc.) behaviors of bpd are the antithesis of the

traits of a " good enough " mother, and actually do more harm than good to their

unfortunate children. I'd be interested to read more of this author's opinions

on infant attachment disorder's lasting impact, and how bpd parenting

contributes to infant attachment disorder, cptsd, and other

emotional/psychological damage to children.

-Annie

>

> Here's an interesting article from the Child Trauma Academy website about the

neurobiology of child maltreatment; how traumatized states in the developing

child's brain can become traits in adulthood.

>

> It seems to me that being " raised " by a nada--no matter where a particular