Attachment Trauma
Attachment starts at conception between the fetus/baby and mother. When a baby is born, the attachment bond begins between the baby and primary-caregiver. The child’s attachment with their primary caregiver affects their future relationships with other people, including adolescent years and into adulthood. Trauma is a disturbing event, a situation that disrupts the brain's ability to understand and make sense of what happened.
Attachment Trauma together is a form of relational trauma that is disrupted between the baby and primary care-giver. Attachment trauma can occur when the primary caregiver does not attend to the infant’s emotional needs, physical needs or psychological needs. The infant and children need to feel secure in their own bodies. This occurs with love, affection, being held, being fed, crying and being attended to, etc. When the infant’s primary caregiver is not attuned, present or does not attend to the infant, the infant struggles to determine what just happened. The infant will become dysregulated, cry, kick, throw arms, look around and if not attended to will eventually withdraw. Now imagine if this happened often or even daily.
Examples of Attachment Trauma:
Being ignored when crying or hungry
Separation at birth
Kidnapping or almost being kidnapped
Abandoned by the primary caregiver
Going into the foster system as an infant
