ABSTRACT
The disorganized attachment bond is a chronic relational trauma. The three elements indicating a disorganized narrative are: lapses in reasoning, lapses in discourse and extreme behavioral response in regard to the loss, abuse or trauma related to the group. An intense, exhausting, chronically traumatizing relationship with the Newman group, with no one outside the group from whom to get feedback, resulted in followers experiencing a dissociative split between the cognitive and emotional parts of the brain. In disorganized attachment the disjoint between implicit and explicit memory—the failure to process implicit memory through language into stored, explicit memory—is restricted to the traumatic relationship in question. Thus, persons with disorganized attachment might be able to discuss other areas of life in a coherent manner, but be flooded with implicit, unmetabolized, intrusive memories when triggered, or when attempting to discuss the trauma or frightening relationship.
