ABSTRACT
Developmental traumatology has provided extensive neurobiological and psychobiological data into the debilitating effects of early trauma on brain growth. This chapter considers brain development, memory of trauma, as well as the important construct of dissociation that occurs in post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Advances in scientific technology have provided profound insights into neurobiological development, spurring new avenues of approach to psychological development as well. The consideration of PTSD is beneficial for extreme cases where the complex interferes with healthy functioning, giving rise to maladaptive behaviours. Myelination, the process of developing protective and electrically conductive coating (myelin) along nerve axons, is a vital component of brain development. Memory is taken to be a state-dependent learning process. Jung followed the psychological theories of Janet and the dissociationists. Dissociation is not exclusively a response to trauma; it is a natural adaptive phenomenon of daily living. In Jung's psychology, the complex is a normal aspect of personal psychology.
