ABSTRACT
This chapter presents Silberg’s Affect Avoidance Theory of dissociation, which integrates attachment theory, affect theory, interpersonal biology, and Putnam’s theory of discrete states to explain the development of dissociation in children. Current research shows that trauma has significant effects on children’s brains which can result in automatic conditioned responses of fear and difficulty with attachment and maintaining awareness. The traumatized child often feels lacking in self-direction and self-control as they are unable to override automatic programs of affect avoidance which may have had survival value in the past. Dissociative states can become more rigid over time and the child’s automatic responses to a variety of triggers can result in serious behavioral problems that bring them to the attention of mental health providers. The assessment of the dissociative child must identify the transition moments where the child abruptly changes state in order to handle the onset of a triggering event. The healthy mind selects information that allows the seamless transition between states appropriate to shifting contexts. Achieving this fluidity of mind and consciousness is a central goal of treatment.
