When I needed you, you weren't with me: Addressing relational trauma in early childhood through child‐parent psychotherapy

Children from birth to age 5 experience a rapid period of brain growth and development, which presents innumerous opportunities for stimulation and learning, but also leaves them especially vulnerable to the effects of stress and trauma. Further, young children are at increased risk of exposure to potentially traumatic events due to being fully dependent on their caregivers. These events can include physical abuse, neglect, racism/discrimination, natural disasters, war, and scary medical procedures. In infancy and early childhood, relational trauma, which is defined as an abusive or neglectful relationship between caregivers and a child, can have a particularly significant impact. When the primary caregiver who is supposed to protect and care for the young child is also the source of threat and fear, the child's brain adapts to cope and survive in dangerous and unpredictable environments, and the child can develop a pattern of hypervigilance to threat and/or of excessive avoidance. In these cases, in which the same adult is the perpetrator and the protector, the young child may simultaneously seek out parental comfort and fight off the dangers of parental behaviors. In addition to the impact on the biology of threat assessment and response, early trauma can also disrupt other areas of development, such as language, motor, and social‐emotional skills.