Developmental trauma in adults: a response to Bessel van der Kolk

摘要

Following Bessel van der Kolk's excellent presentation on developmental trauma in children and the resulting implications in relation to their treatment, I shall look at the implications of his presentation in relation to adult patients with a history of child abuse.It is through an understanding of attachment disorders that we can most easily make sense of findings relating to simple and complex or developmental post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The implications of attachment research in terms of the assessment and treatment of-psychological trauma are covered in my recent paper (Zulueta, 2006a) where I underline how PTSD impacts both on the individual and on the immediate family system and can be transmitted down the generations.