Impact of early relational trauma on children's mentalizing capacity and play: A clinical illustration

Terradas, Miguel M.; Poulin-Latulippe, David; Paradis, Dominique; Didier, Olivier

doi:10.1016/j.ejtd.2020.100160

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 36 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Trauma poses a significant burden of risk for the emergence of physical and mental health issues [ 23 ]. The exposure of young children to early traumatic experiences can have serious repercussions on their development [ 24 , 25 ]. The traumatisms caused by psychological, physical, or sexual abuse in a setting of contact generally differ greatly from those brought on by disasters, health issues, or conflicts [ 26 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relationship between Trauma and Attachment in Burundi’s School-Aged Children

2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The exposure of children and adolescents to trauma is one of the most important public health challenges. These childhood experiences play a role in children’s attachment patterns with their parents and peers. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between exposure to trauma and the degree of attachment representations in school-aged children in Burundi. One hundred thirteen vulnerable children aged 7 to 12 years were recruited and referred by their teachers. We used an event list including the post-traumatic reaction index to measure their exposure to traumatic events and the People in My Life instrument to measure attachment representations. The results revealed that the children had experienced or witnessed at least one traumatic event. The results indicated that secure attachment representations were highest among children with their parents and lowest among children with their peers. The relationship between trauma experiences and children’s attachment representations was significant with their parents and with their peers. Children’s attachment representations with their parents and peers predicted their traumatic experiences. Future research should focus on how attachment relationships can facilitate counselors and clinicians in providing preventive psycho-education to adults and children to develop healthier functioning, through better knowledge of the complex interplay between traumas.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relationship between Trauma and Attachment in Burundi’s School-Aged Children

2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Ìåíòàë³çàö³ÿ â³äíîñèòüñÿ äî ò³º¿ ôîðìè ïñèõ³÷íî¿ ä³ÿëüíîñò³, ÿêà º îäíî÷àñíî óÿâíîþ (Fonagy and Target, 2007), ñóá'ºêòèâíîþ, äèíàì³÷íîþ (Bateman and Fonagy, 2013) ³ äåùî óñâ³äîìëåíîþ. Öÿ ä³ÿëüí³ñòü äîçâîëÿº ëþäÿì âèÿâëÿòè ³ ðîçóì³òè äóìêè, ïî-÷óòòÿ òà íàì³ðè, ùî óçàñàäíþþòü ïîâåä³íêóâëàñíó ÷è íàâêîëèøí³õ [28].…”

Section: ï ñèõîëîã³unclassified

Peculiarities of the formation of early attachment models in children with traumatic experiences

Shved

2023

PSM

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article presents the results of a meta-analysis of relevant studies published in English literature between 2010 and 2022, focusing on the definition of traumatic experience, types of psychological trauma, early attachment models, and the concept of mentalization. The search services PsycInfo, PubMed, APA Web-of-Science, and Research Gate were used to accomplish the set objectives. The influence of childhood traumatic events on the development of primary attachment models was explored. It was established that early attachment models are internal representations or perceptions formed during childhood, that determine a child’s perception of close individuals and their relationships. The effectiveness and scientifically substantiated aspects of the Neurosequential Model in Education and the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT) in working with children who have experienced traumatic events are described. It was found that childhood traumatic experience affects seven main aspects of psychology: sensory development, dissociation (changes in consciousness), attachment, affect regulation, behavioral regulation, cognitive domain, self-awareness, and identity development. Each type of traumatic experience has its conditions, characteristics, mechanisms, and consequences for the formation of early attachment models in children and overall psychosocial functioning. Thus, understanding the entire spectrum of changes, including neurobiological aspects, is crucial when working with children who have experienced traumatic events and require specialized support. This analysis revealed that the quality of parent-child interaction depends on parents' ability to mentalize and their capacity to understand the child‘s inner world, which, in turn, influences the formation of early childhood attachment models. Depending on the presence or absence of traumatic experiences in a child's life, different attachment styles can be developed. The identified generalizations shed light on the pathogenesis of relationship trauma-related disorders and can be practically applied in the development and implementation of professional recommendations or programs for psychosocial support for children who have experienced traumatic events. Emphasizing the necessity for further empirical research to gain a more detailed understanding of this issue.

show abstract

“…Because gender differences are reported for attachment styles and MSI capacities (i.e., female advantage) (Becht & Vingerhoets, 2002;Bekker et al, 2007), we controlled for gender in our studies. Childhood trauma was also included as a covariate due to its contradictory role in influencing adults' mentalizing performance (Greenberg et al, 2018;Terradas et al, 2020). Considering the habitual use of AV as a defense strategy, we only expected to note this moderating effect in the AX in Study 1, and further test the hypothesis that AV would play a moderating role when under a cognitive load, in Study 2.…”

Section: The Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of attachment threat on mental state identification: The mediating role of negative emotion and the moderating role of attachment styles

Tang

Liu

Wang

et al. 2021

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We conducted two experimental studies to explore the mediating role of negative emotion and the moderating role of attachment styles when predicting mental state identification (MSI) in threatening contexts. The Chinese version of “Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task” (RMET) was used as a proxy for MSI. In Study 1, 123 participants were recruited to complete the RMET task after “recall-writing” threat inductions. In Study 2, we recruited another sample ( N = 121) and examined the effect of threats with induced cognitive loads on MSI. The results indicate that attachment threat induction can affect MSI performance through negative emotional arousal. The indirect threat effects were moderated by attachment styles; in the first stage, the mediated path effect was stronger for participants with higher attachment anxiety levels (Study 1), and in the second stage, it was stronger for participants with higher AV levels, under cognitive loads (Study 2) but independent of age and childhood trauma. These findings can contribute to a better understanding of how and when attachment threat increases the risk of MSI disruption. It suggests that, diminishing the negative impacts of attachment threat may require first training individuals to regulate emotions and promoting their attachment security.

show abstract

Impact of early relational trauma on children's mentalizing capacity and play: A clinical illustration

Cited by 10 publications

References 36 publications

The Relationship between Trauma and Attachment in Burundi’s School-Aged Children

The Relationship between Trauma and Attachment in Burundi’s School-Aged Children

Peculiarities of the formation of early attachment models in children with traumatic experiences

The impact of attachment threat on mental state identification: The mediating role of negative emotion and the moderating role of attachment styles

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About