Complex Trauma

Complex trauma can result from long-term effects on a child exposed to multiple, traumatic events—often severe and pervasive, such as abuse or profound neglect— disrupting their development and interfering with attaching securely to parents/caregivers. Children surrounded by violence at home or in the community learn not to trust a dangerous world—and feel powerless to change their own lives. Problems include: emotional responses to often unpredictable or exploitative relationships, dissociation (mentally separate), behavior (impulse control, self-regulation, high-risk/illegal activities), and cognition deficits (language development, abstract reasoning, organization), as well as physical health and long-term consequences (compromised immune/stress response systems, changed development, chronic or recurring physical complaints). Also see Trauma and Childhood or Developmental Trauma