Understanding disruptions in the parent–infant relationship: Do actions speak louder than words?

Trauma within the early parent-child relationship can stem from and be maintained by multiple factors. Early relational trauma has been examined from two different, albeit not independent, perspectives. The first is the observation of parent-infant interactions. This method allows the observer to examine behavioural patterns that might be overtly traumatizing to one or both partners in the relationship, or that may be indicative of traumatogenic relationships. The second perspective involves examination of the mental representations, or internal working models, that each partner brings to the relationship and that are formed within the relationship as it develops.