ABSTRACT
Many children have endured war their entire lives and know nothing else. These child survivors carry with them the trauma present with spectrum issues in many guises, from the overtly aggressive to the shutdown autistic. They require the gentlest of therapeutic treatment. Violence activates threat responses in children's developing brains. Excess activation of the neural systems creates a 'hyperarousal continuum' of threat responses that can alter brain chemistry, which is observed in emotional, behavioural and cognitive behaviour. The children referred to the practice were not just trauma victims per se, but also had a spectrum condition that predated their diagnosis of post-traumatic stress. Despite being a child therapist, it sometimes becomes apparent that it is not the child who is the 'identified patient'–but in reality, it is the parent. These parents were routinely referred to the psychologist or therapist 'upstairs' who worked with adults.
