Childhood is a vital stage in which the possibility of developing psychological trauma makes us especially vulnerable. As children we have fewer tools to deal with situations that can mark us emotionally in a negative way. Moreover, the consequences of these experiences remain in adulthood.

On this occasion we will interview Raquel Molero Martínez, a psychologist from the ARA Psicología centre in Barcelona, so that she can explain to us what one of the most relevant phenomena in psychotherapy consists of: developmental trauma.

The emotional impact of developmental trauma

Raquel Molero Martínez is the Director of ARA Psychology, a psychologist specializing in the clinical and health fields, and an EMDR therapist. Here she will talk about the characteristics of developmental trauma from her perspective as an expert in psychotherapy.

What is developmental trauma?

Trauma comes from the Greek, and means wound. It is the mark left on our body by past events; the trauma remains anchored in the mind, body and brain.

Human beings start from a bonding system that depends entirely on our parents or primary caregivers. The attachments we establish in childhood help us to understand the way the world works, relationships with other people and conflicts; to shape our identity, the sense of self.

Developmental trauma occurs when connecting figures have also been a source of threat. In developmental trauma, our defence systems (what tells us what to fear or what things can harm us) and attachment systems (the way we connect and disconnect with the important people in our environment) are damaged.

Traumatic experiences leave their mark on our emotions, on the way we see and enjoy life and relationships with others or ourselves, and even leave their mark on our biology and our immune system.

However, trauma is a wound, and like all wounds it has the capacity to heal, further damage itself or transform itself. But in any case it is a treatable emotional injury.

Surely almost everyone has gone through difficult situations during childhood. What are the characteristics of the situations that leave this traumatic imprint on people’s minds? Can they be one-off experiences, or must they occur over long periods?

Our system is wise, since childhood we generate mechanisms that help us defend ourselves from what happens in our environment. These defenses are like a shield that protects us from situations where the threat was too great or intense and we felt we could not cope.

The smaller we are, the fewer tools we have to defend ourselves, the more fragile we are and the more likely it is that our organism will experience what happens outside as a threat. If this happens repeatedly or too intensely the body generates strategies to get out of the situation by blocking the associated emotions.

The situations that are potentially traumatic in childhood, when we talk about developmental trauma, are, for example, situations of domestic abuse or neglect, repeated sexual abuse, mental disorder of one or both parents, death of one of the parents, excessive overprotection… Or when caregivers were not available physically or emotionally in a consistent and stable manner.

Thus, when we speak of developmental trauma, we are talking about situations that occur early, that repeat chronically over time, and are so intense that they prevent us from developing one or more parts of ourselves in a healthy way.

The traumas that are generated after punctual, sudden and negative situations can be called shock traumas. For example, natural disasters, survivors of war or terrorism, kidnapping, surgeries, injuries, accidents and falls, problems at birth, rape, animal attacks, burns…

What are the typical symptoms of developmental trauma?

The symptoms of developmental trauma can be many: from anxiety, stress, depression, impulse control difficulties, inattention, hyperactivity, obsessions, eating problems… to more complex syndromes such as migraine, irritable bowel or chronic pain.

Self-regulatory capacity and healthy social engagement are often impaired in developmental trauma. And that limits our ability to feel safe in the world around us.

When our attachment system is insecure, our interpersonal relationships with both our family and our partner or friends can be affected, and these relationships can be unstable, toxic or unsatisfactory.

Furthermore, if the defence system is damaged as well, security will be affected, which can influence our way of dealing with conflicts, stressful work situations, fear of being exposed in front of others or intimate relationships with other people.

How can having been raised in an inappropriate context affect us as adults?

Repeated relational events, especially those related to attachment (humiliation, mockery, criticism, excessive overprotection, neglect, abandonment, unsafe context….) impact on the beliefs one has about oneself, others and the world. They can affect one’s sense of security, self-esteem, self-confidence, self-definition or optimal behaviour.

Developmental trauma can generate a disconnect between the physical self and the emotional self; and with it comes the difficulty of relating to others, of knowing what we need, of trusting others, or of setting healthy boundaries. And we may have a tendency to re-experience the same thing in our interpersonal relationships, as if we were always entering into a loop that keeps repeating itself.

We may not be able to feel our emotions at all, or if we do, feel them in an excessive way, making it very difficult for us to return to a state of calm.

Repeated exposure to psychosocial stressors, such as abuse, increases the risk of developing more severe and far-reaching trauma and symptoms including drug use, and attempted suicide.

Is it difficult for an adult to realize that their quality of life is being eroded by developmental trauma?

Traumatic experiences freeze us, we lose the ability to evolve over time, to adapt that belief, defense mechanism or emotion to the environment and the situation. We remain anchored in the past, stuck, and use rigid strategies to cope with different situations, with ineffective behavior patterns.

Many times we don’t realize that this happens because we are used to functioning that way, to defending ourselves from others in a particular way and to choosing the same kind of relationships.

It’s as if our personality is a tower that is shaken because the foundations are not well fixed. We, who are on top of the tower trying to defend ourselves from our enemies, never see what is happening, we only notice that the tower is wobbling, without knowing why. We need someone to help us see the tower from the outside and repair it so that we can look again at what is really outside.

And what can psychologists do to help people with developmental trauma?

The work of therapists is to help people to be in connection with their body and their emotions, to recognize and experience the reality of every facet of their life and their experience. To be able to be in touch with pleasure and also with suffering, by being honest with themselves.

The practice of body awareness, the installation of healthy resources and emotional regulation tools that allow the patient to be in balance with himself, and a self-care that arises spontaneously and not forced, would be the first steps to restore the capacity for resilience and self-healing.

Once we have stabilized the patient enough, we can renegotiate the trauma and give the body time to reorganize the traumatic experience so that we can integrate it into our system in a healthy way. This will help us regain the ability to be in tune with others, foster trust and healthy interdependence.

From our more body-based intervention and reactions; we need to establish a process of cooperation with the patient to contain, process and integrate their sensations to make them more adaptive and sustainable.

When our attachment system is insecure, our interpersonal relationships with both our family and our partner or friends can be affected, and these relationships can be unstable, toxic or unsatisfactory.

Furthermore, if the defence system is damaged as well, security will be affected, which can influence our way of dealing with conflicts, stressful work situations, fear of being exposed in front of others or intimate relationships with other people.

How can having been raised in an inappropriate context affect us as adults?

Repeated relational events, especially those related to attachment (humiliation, mockery, criticism, excessive overprotection, neglect, abandonment, unsafe context….) impact on the beliefs one has about oneself, others and the world. They can affect one’s sense of security, self-esteem, self-confidence, self-definition or optimal behaviour.

Developmental trauma can generate a disconnect between the physical self and the emotional self; and with it comes the difficulty of relating to others, of knowing what we need, of trusting others, or of setting healthy boundaries. And we may have a tendency to re-experience the same thing in our interpersonal relationships, as if we were always entering into a loop that keeps repeating itself.

We may not be able to feel our emotions at all, or if we do, feel them in an excessive way, making it very difficult for us to return to a state of calm.