Childhood trauma is one of the least spoken about concept in our societies in comparison to trauma in late stages of life. This refers to the adverse events or incidents that occur during childhood. This can be any event that is stressful or painful and further impacting to the child’s mental and physical being.
This impact is hardly identified in its early stages because children tend to adopt an internalization coping style, instead of communicating any distress faced with. Relocation to a different town, new family member(sibling), divorce and domestic violence among others are the most common traumatic events reported in clinical practice. Early intervention has been identified and proven by research to help address and prevent long lasting effects of trauma on the psychological wellbeing on children. The concept of attachment is one of the explored and studied phenomena to understand its role and importance in the management of childhood trauma.
Benoit (2004) refers to attachments as a relationship between a child and a parent or significant other for the purpose of providing a child with a safe, secure and protected environment. This includes stable and consistent long lasting relationship that produces and offers trust to the child from birth. When a child has had a functional attachment process, it is to identify and notice any changes with the child that is, behavioural, physical and psychological. An insecure and disorganized family system is more likely to temper with the attachment process with effects only being noticed at a later stage of life. Thus, a healthy and functional family is more likely to provide and facilitate a secure environment for the child, as relations are given more attention and nourished without neglect. Maybe a question to ponder on is: How much do we consider the impact of our daily behaviour towards children we raise or taking care of? Is the relationship we have with children safe enough for them to feel at ease and free? There is nothing that can make up for the early years lost over trauma, as the effects are long lasting and can further contribute to dysfunctional adulthood relations.
Author: Dr Malebo Mashaba
