ABSTRACT
In this paper, five children who experienced traumas during the preverbal period are described. The clinical presentations are oriented around three questions: (1) What are the expectable symptomatic reactions of preverbal infants to trauma? (2) To what extent and in what forms are preverbal traumatic experiences retained in memory? and (3) Does trauma in the preverbal period have enduring effects? In these five preverbal infants, symptomatology consistent with typical posttraumatic diagnostic criteria was observed. The clinical material also suggested that the capacity to encode and retain meaningful internal representations of the salient elements of a traumatic experience may be present as early as the second half of the first year of life. The developmental implications of early trauma, particularly if it is severe, appear to be significant.
Subject(s)
Life Change Events , Memory , Psychoanalytic Therapy , Female , Humans , Infant , Male , Psychology, ChildABSTRACT
This case report describes the psychotherapeutic treatment of a three- year-old boy. At the age of twenty-one months the child was attacked by a dog in the facial area. Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder consistent with patterns seen in older children and adults and significant developmental disruptions had persisted up to the time of the treatment. The therapeutic work illustrates the unique contributions that psychoanalytic approaches can make to the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorders in children. It appears to have contributed significantly to resolution of the overwhelming feelings evoked by the trauma, such that the child's development could resume its normal course. The case material highlights a number of therapeutic principles relevant to work with traumatized children and frames a discussion of several current issues in the field. A conceptual framework that delineates the effects of trauma on children according to seven different levels of impact is presented utilizing a psychoanalytically based developmental perspective.
Subject(s)
Psychoanalytic Therapy , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/therapy , Child, Preschool , Humans , Male , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/psychologyABSTRACT
The authors observed seven infants who had a manic-depressive parent longitudinally in a structured laboratory setting with their mothers at ages 12, 15, and 18 months. The infants' attachment and affiliative behaviors and the patterning of their affective responses were assessed according to systematic measures and compared with those of a matched control group. The proband infants appeared to show a disturbance in the quality of their attachments to their mothers as well as a generalized disturbance in their capacities to regulate their emotions adaptively. There appeared to be an increasing severity of disturbance with increasing age. The authors discuss the implications of these findings.
Subject(s)
Bipolar Disorder/genetics , Emotions , Socialization , Child Development , Child Rearing , Developmental Disabilities/etiology , Developmental Disabilities/psychology , Female , Humans , Infant , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Maternal Behavior , Mother-Child Relations , Object AttachmentABSTRACT
The authors review the various clinical and experimental studies of children of parents with affective illness, spanning infancy, childhood, and early adolescence and including their own and the studies reported in this Special Section of the Journal. They find a clear tendency to early disturbances in these children that seems related to adult affective illness in the areas of affect regulation and social interaction. Although these findings suggest a developmental line of affective illness linking child and adult forms, many issues need further clarification.
Subject(s)
Mood Disorders/genetics , Adolescent , Bipolar Disorder/genetics , Child , Child Behavior Disorders/diagnosis , Child Behavior Disorders/psychology , Child Development , Child Rearing , Child, Preschool , Depressive Disorder/genetics , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Hospitalization , Humans , Infant , Interpersonal Relations , Male , Parent-Child RelationsSubject(s)
Mother-Child Relations , Play and Playthings , Psychology, Child , Child Behavior , Child Development , Female , Humans , Infant , Social BehaviorSubject(s)
Affect , Child Abuse , Personality Development , Adult , Facial Expression , Female , Humans , Infant , Maternal Deprivation , Psychoanalytic TheorySubject(s)
Mother-Child Relations , Play and Playthings , Psychology, Child , Anxiety, Separation/psychology , Child Behavior , Child, Preschool , Humans , Infant , MethodsSubject(s)
Affect , Mother-Child Relations , Psychology, Child , Anger , Child Abuse , Depression , Emotions , Female , Humans , Individuality , Infant , Male , Methods , Social IsolationSubject(s)
Adjustment Disorders/psychology , Maternal Deprivation , Child Abuse , Female , Foster Home Care/psychology , Humans , InfantABSTRACT
In attempting to understand the nature of emotional disturbances in medical student populations, one inevitably is drawn to the study of the complex interactions between the demands of the medical school environment and the adaptive capacities of students. In our work as psychiatric consultants to the University of Colorado Medical Center Student Health Service, we have found it useful to conceptualize the four-year medical curriculum as presenting the student with a series of adaptive and development tasks. The appearance of emotional disturbance is seen to relate as much to the particular developmental stress confronting the student as to his long-standing character structure and psychopathology. In this paper, we will describe and illustrate with clinical material major developmental tasks likely to elicit emotional distress in students. Indicators of potentially adaptive versus maladaptive resolutions will be outlined, and some suggestions for helpful intervention offered. Unique issues faced by women medical students will also be reviewed.
