An article by Dr. Bruce D. Perry et al is a must-read for all those trying to understand the impact of infant trauma on a person’s life: “Childhood Trauma, The Neurobiology of Adaptation, and ‘Use-dependent’ Development of the Brain: How ‘States’ Become ‘Traits.'” I became interested in this article because I believe that there are aspects of my character that, rather than simply being my personality, are actually qualities shaped by early trauma. These so-called “traits” are behaviors, somatic patterns, and thought ruts that no longer serve me. In fact, while they may have saved me long ago, they disempower me now.
The article is somewhat complex, so I’ve selected some quotes to help you see what Perry et al are getting at.
“Traumatic experiences in childhood increase the risk of developing a variety of neuropsychiatric symptoms in adolescence and adulthood ” (273).
“Ultimately, it is the human brain that processes and internalizes traumatic . . . experiences. It is the brain that mediates all emotional, cognitive, behavioral, social, and physiological functioning. It is the human brain from which the human mind arises and within that mind resides our humanity. Understanding the organization, function, and development of the human brain, and brain-mediated responses to threat, provides the keys to understanding the traumatized child” (273).
“. . . traumatized children exhibit profound sensitization of the neural response patterns associated with their traumatic experiences. The result is that full-blown response patterns (e.g., hyperarousal or dissociation) can be elicited by apparently minor stressors” (275).
In this article, Perry et al make the case that “reactivated” fear coming from an oversensitized brain stem and midbrain due to trauma can cause hyperarousal: “hyperactivity, anxiety, behavioral impulsivity, sleep problems, tachycardia [abnormally fast heart rate], hypertension, and a variety of neuroendocrine [hormonal] abnormalties” (278). These conditions and behaviors are states NOT traits.
On the other hand, oversensitized brains can be result in “dissociation.” For example, if an outside stimulus evokes the trauma, a person may freeze or numb him or herself. A child may “disengag[e] from stimuli in the external world and attend [. . . ] to an ‘internal’ world” (280) as in daydreaming or fantasizing. As a result, a child may falsely be understood to be extremely shy or uncooperative. Dissociation and hyperarousal are “states” created by early trauma. In adulthood, many of us have wrongly come to accept them as our personality “traits.”
Another major point from the article is that traumatized infants and children do not simply get over their traumas. According to Perry et al, “children are not resilient, children are malleable” (285). In fact, to assume infants and children were not affected by the trauma or will grow out of it is not only incorrect but destructive. Perry et al leave us with this final point: “Persistence of the destructive myth that ‘children are resilient’ will prevent millions of children, and our society, from meeting their true potential” (286).
For me, I just want my real self back.
With you I am both intrigued and grateful that we regularly find material being published that connects seamlessly with our life experience. Thanks so much for “processing”, passing on and highlighting some of Dr Perry’s article for your readers.
How reassuring and how clarifying I find this is! Even though some of what is written is partly expressed in painfully (to me) professional language, we can understand enough to feel increasingly affirmed. The points and distinctions that Dr Perry makes are helping shed increasing understanding and perspective on the dimness of some of the pages of my past.
Just as well people like you and me can help bridge the worlds of academia and its subjects!
I hope that you read the whole article. Though there’s a goodly amount of scholarship, there is an equal amount, I think, of lay people talk. One gets the sense that these researchers are doing their best to communicate clearly and may even want to reach a wider audience. In any case, I’m glad you are feeling “increasingly affirmed.” Thanks for being a co-bridger!