by Laurie A. Couture, M.Ed., LCMHC
The behavioral and emotional symptoms that cause us concern about a child we love may have some degree of childhood developmental trauma at their root. Trauma is emotional injury that results from any highly distressing or fearful experience that causes a person to feel powerless, unable to cope,unable to escape, or unable protect the self or one’s bodily integrity. Trauma is a subjective experience, which means that what is traumatic for one person might not be for another, and the risk for trauma is variable based on a person’s personal vulnerabilities, previous adverse experiences, present life stressors, current support system, and epigenetic lottery (generational trauma).
Childhood developmental trauma is trauma that occurs during childhood—the first 20 or so years of
life—but especially within the first three to five years of life. Kids at all ages are highly vulnerable to
trauma because they are often under the control of adults or peers more physically, emotionally, or
institutionally powerful than themselves, and they are often forced to dissociate—emotionally shut
down from their minds and bodies—in order to cope with distressing environments. Childhood
developmental trauma negatively affects children on multiple dimensions of their development, even if the effects aren’t noticed for years or even decades. These include:
- Epigenetic (How genetics express themselves according to life experiences)
- Biological/Physical
- Neurological
- Psychological/Emotional
- Cognitive/Intellectual
- Behavioral
- Social
- Sexual
- Spiritual/Moral
Childhood developmental trauma includes physical, sexual, and emotional child abuse and neglect at home, at school, or in another caretaking setting. It includes being the victim of or witness to bullying or violence in any setting, or being the victim of or witness to any terrifying act or situation such as an accident, medical procedure, death, attempted abduction, or abduction. It also includes the loss of a parent, or being in foster care, an orphanage, or group home. Childhood developmental trauma also includes being exposed to violent or sexually explicit media or when an adult punishes a child using shaming, humiliation, deprivation, fear, or harshness. Childhood developmental trauma can result from chronic distress or from one highly intense distressing incident.
Children’s behavioral, emotional, and learning problems are alarm signals of distress in their lives—and if these alarm signals are on-going or serious, they may signal that some degree of trauma has occurred or is occurring. Fortunately, trauma therapies like Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR, can help heal developmental trauma. EMDR uses a special process that mimics the brain’s own emotional repair system—eye movements during REM sleep—to rapidly help heal the trauma. Once a youth is in a safe, supportive, and loving environment, EMDR treatment can lead to a remarkable reduction of—or even extinguishing of—the youth’s acting-out behaviors and distressing emotional symptoms. Life-changing gains can occur even in cases of severe, extreme, and decades-old trauma.
Laurie A. Couture, a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor in Portsmouth, New Hampshire who specializes in treating childhood developmental trauma and attachment challenges in children and youths ages toddler to age 22. She has over 25 years of experience with kids and families as a trauma specialist, a consultant, a trainer and speaker, a Massachusetts licensed mental health counselor and outreach clinician, and provider in the fields of juvenile justice, foster and adoption social work, and education.
©2023 by Laurie A. Couture, M.Ed., LCMHC