As I worked on my presentation this weekend, I re-read this Bruce Perry article: "Applying Principles of Neurodevelopment to Clinical Work with Maltreated and Traumatized Children." This is an awesome article that confirms much of what I've come to believe about parenting a traumatized child, even though I had never read it explained so clearly in one place.

His first principle in the article is that

"The brain is organized in a hierarchical fashion, such that all incoming sensory input first enters the lower parts of the brain."

He goes on to explain that developing brains grow from the lower, more primitive parts into the higher parts, like the cortex. So, much like building a house, if there's damaged (due to abuse, neglect or maltreatment) that effects the lower levels, it puts cracks in the foundation of a developing brain (my analogy, not Perry's).

This explains why maltreatment at a young age...i.e. preverbal, is so pervasively damaging. I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said to me "But she was so young when you adopted her; she can't possibly remember all that awful stuff." I could probably pay for a lifetime of therapy. Through research like Perry is doing, we can clearly see that the earlier the maltreatment, the more harmful it actually can be.

The other thing this principle addresses is why conventional therapies don't work with traumatized children. If a child's lower brain functions are impaired due to trauma, they CAN NOT be reached through cognitive therapies (like talk therapy or even play therapy) because those approaches don't activate the lower or midbrain, only the cortex. The folks working with children who have Reactive Attachment Disorder have been saying this for years...conventional therapies don't work with our kids!

This article talks about how the child's trauma can be activated before complete processing and interpretation occur. In other words, their emotions cause them to react before the thinking part of their brain is even activated. At the lower levels of the brain there is very little subjective perception.

Think about it. You almost have a car wreck and you feel that rush of adrenaline, that fear. Can you talk yourself out of that fear right away, even if the immediate danger passes and you don't have the wreck. How do you really FEEL? Jittery, anxious, nauseous, hyper. Now imagine feeling that way all the time, not able to distinguish between a "real" threat and a perceived one. How well would the logic part of your brain be able to calm you down when the fear part of your brain(which is at a lower level than your reasoning) is pumping out the chemicals of fight, flight or freeze 24/7?