The Trauma Of Childhood And Adolescence - 1503 Words

Cynthia’s Attachment Style Chronic trauma in childhood and adolescence include macrotraumatic events – physical abuse, sexual assault, physical neglect – as well as a variety of cumulative microtrauma including constant devaluations and excessive demands, lack of security, emotional abuse, neglect, and a variety of separation and losses. For this type of trauma, the concept of attachment trauma has been proposed to underline the high damage potential of these influences. Main characteristics of complex or attachment trauma can cause severe disorder of emotion regulation with unstable and uncontrollable emotional states and uncontrollable (Herman 1997). It can also cause personality change due to malfunction of attachment and†¦show more content†¦During one session, Cynthia told me that she had found out that her mom had smoked crack cocaine recently. When I asked her how she felt about this; she shrugged and said, â€Å"I’ll be home soon. She won’t do it when I’m back home.† I asked her specifically whether she felt disappointment or anger and Cynthia’s response was â€Å"No, she’s my mom. I love her.† Trauma and negative attachment experiences can cause different attachment styles. Longitudinal studies have shown that secure attachment is a protective factor for a child’s development (Sroufe, 2005). Children with secure attachments respond with greater psychological resilience to emotional stress. An insecure attachment development, however, is a risk factor, which can lead to the individual experiencing psychological decompression in stress situation or cause more difficulty dealing with conflicts in a socially competent way. Children with insecure attachment styles often show less pro-social behaviors at the kindergarten age and behave more aggressively than their playmates. In adolescence they are often more isolated, have fewer friendships, and feel that relationships overall are less important for their lives. I never doubted that Cynthia had an insecure attachment style. Deciding on her specific style was more difficulty given that I had to do this in hindsight . For Cynthia, I considered dismissive-avoidant, anxious-preoccupied,