Childhood Trauma

Childhood Trauma, Development and Treatment
When considering family systems, one needs to look at the broad frame of a family’s dynamics while simultaneously analyzing how each member of the family plays integral part in the family dynamic. Family’s, especially in the progressed world we live in, can be comprised of a variety of make up. When one thinks of family, one could typically define one’s family by the people the person was surrounded with as a child that influenced the child in their early years and continued forward into adolescence and adulthood. When considering the complexity of a family system, it is also important to analyze the member’s attachment to the other members. According to the article by Nims and Duba (2011),
they remark that Dr. Murray Bowen’s theory keys in on emotions and family functioning. Bowen believed that each family member relies emotional on other members of the family, leading them to be interdependent and their relationships to be reciprocal. Siblings and sibling interactions play a vital role “in providing experiences that foster skills instrumental to social emotional and cognitive development” (Cox, 2010). While evaluating family systems, it is imperative to examine family interactions, both socially and covertly; in the field of therapy it is important to analyze the family dynamic in their household setting and in a clinical setting to truly depict how the family interacts and depends on one another. Further research needs to be conducted to analyze the vast variety of family systems our society contains nowadays, as the “typical” family is not so typical anymore.

Main Body
As human beings we are pre-determined to develop relationships early.
In fact, research shows that attachment develops in infancy and continues to play a vital role in our relationships throughout the rest of our lives. (Feldman, 2011) Not only do infants attach to their parents, they acquire attachments to other members of the family including their sibling. Since you are likely close in age to a sibling, these relationships are the ones that can be the longest lasting through out ones lifespan. According to Cox, “sibling relationships influence and are influenced by, the qualities of the larger family systems” (2010). Considering the monumental role our families play on our development, individual beings are formed based around circumstances one experience within the family
unit. Within every family there is dysfunction and Bowen suggest that how we handle dysfunction forms our familial interactions and tells us how we handle stress and anxiety (Duba, 2011). Even when a family member experiences an outside stressor it can have a deep impact on the nuclear members of the family. For example, if a sole bread-winning father looses his employment, the entire family would experience financial stress that could develop other stressors within the individual family members. During a hardship, parents typically rely on one another and siblings rely on siblings if they are available. It has been proposed that if a sibling does not exist, than a child would be more apt to rely on peer relationships. (Feldman, 2011)
When conducting family therapy it is important to be able to apply family systems theories.
Analyzing the family in the home unit may help ease anxiety and delay the perceived “fakeness” that a family my try to put on because they are in a social setting. It is important to include all members of the nuclear family when presiding over a family therapy session, watch how they interact and communicate (both verbally and nonverbally). Bowen used genograms, a family tree like model that aided the therapist and the families understand the interactions they exhibited between one another (Duba, 2011). This diagram can assist the family in shifting dynamics and understanding the attachments between the members. If young children are involved, play therapy may be a useful technique to use. “Play therapy activities provide an excellent opportunity for individual’s within the family to discover the balance between individuation and dependence.” (Duba, 2011) It is important to engage all members of a family in a family session and have them achieve understanding and appreciate the dynamics of the
family. Trauma can affect a child’s brain development. Studies have proven that child neural development can be increasingly hindered or even scared if exposed to trauma. When children are exposed to prolonged abuse their brain tends to go into a flight or fight mode when faced with a stressful situation and over an extended period of time this causes the brain to be damaged or not to develop in a normal way. It is important that we offer assistance to families and children, as prevention is the best way to prevent neural trauma during. (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2009) As always, it is critical to consider families’ religious, spiritual and personal beliefs. These will manipulate factors in which the family behaves. A family that is strong in praying as a family would be able to use prayer as an intervention for trying times. Encouraging a family to attend church together and sit as a family can increase a bond in a family. Existing studies discovered that religiously affiliated fathers are more likely to be engaged with their families, possibly attributing the father’s religious beliefs to a stronger familial bond. (Roehlkepartain et al., 2006) Sitting aside a sit down dinnertime on a weekly basis can help the family communicate better. It is important to remember that families are made up of individuals and individuals can’t be forced to change, they have to be open to change.

References
Cox, M. J. (2010). Famliy Systems and Sibling Relationships. Child Development Perspectives , 4 (2), 95-96.

Duba, D. R. (2011). Using Play Therapy Techniques in a Bowenian Theoretical Context. The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families , 19 (1), 83-89.

Feldman, R. S. (2011). Development Across the Lifespan. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

Roehlkepartain, E., King, P., Wagener, L., & Benson, P. (2006). The Handbook of Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing.