Therapy Toronto Psychotherapy Definitions

Childhood Trauma

Childhood Trauma

Children are totally dependent on caregivers growing up and disruptions in the attachment relationships may be experienced as survival threat.

Research such as the ACES study (adverse childhood experiences) have shown that chronic neglect, emotional or physical abuse during childhood often lead to conflicts surrounding the capacity for connection (an impaired capacity for connection to self and others) resulting in a diminished sense of aliveness and agency as an adult, according to bestselling author and clinician Dr. Lawrence Heller, director of the NARM Institute for healing developmental trauma (narmtraining.com).

Heller believes that early adverse experience is the hidden dimension underlying most psychological and many physiological problems. NARMâ„¢ is an integrative method that bridges psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, mindfulness-based and somatic approaches within a context of relational practice. The model outlines how early life experiences present themselves in the context of complex psychobiological patterns, otherwise thought of as personality or identity. These psychological, emotional, behavioral and somatic patterns, when impacted by traumatic attachment and relational experiences, shape our development, who we are in the world (our self), and how we relate to others. When clients are having difficulty making progress in therapy and shifting out of patterns of dysregulation and distress, these underlying developmental trauma dynamics are often at play and must be addressed.

NARM is a somatically based psychotherapy that helps bring into awareness the parts of self that are disorganized and dysfunctional without making the regressed, dysfunctional elements the primary theme of the therapy. It emphasizes a person’s strengths, capacities, resources, and resiliency and is a powerful tool for working with both nervous system regulation and distortions of identity such as low self-esteem, shame, and chronic self-judgment.

Therapist Match:

Susan Leopold

(Downtown)