ABSTRACT

Danni was a 13-year-old adolescent who, from infancy to age four, had been violently abused by her drug addict mother and her revolving door of boyfriends. Traumatic early experiences, accompanied by a lack of reparation from the caregiver, leave deep imprints on the developing brain. Negative relational templates set down early in life, and hardened through repeated confirmatory life experiences, disrupt the healthy growth of relational neuronal pathways. This can result in biased information processing, distorted world views and hypervigilant behaviour against real and imagined threats in subsequent relationships. Children rely on their primary caregivers to help them make sense of the world and define themselves and others. Every attempt at forming a secure holding environment was read through the template of earlier relationships and triggered an internal alarm that was promptly followed by a protective aggressive response.