Trauma

Microaggressions contribute to chronic stress/distress A common misperception is that microaggressions are small or insignificant in impact. While this may be understandable given the terms start with micro, it’s also a defensive reaction driven by our own desires to disavow any harm we may have…

The ACES study was conducted here in San Diego between 1995-97 and was spearheaded by Vincent Felitti, MD.  This study was conducted with 17,000 participants and clearly demonstrated a link between adverse childhood experiences and later health, social and behavioral problems. What I want to…

Attachment is the very important bond between an infant and their primary caregiver(s). Anything that significantly and/or chronically disrupts or harms this relationship is considered attachment trauma. This form of trauma can be quite deep and difficult to articulate. Sometimes people don’t even realize there…

Another way you may hear people talk about trauma is by talking about Big T vs. Little t Trauma Big T Trauma refers to major, life-threatening events, things like abuse, accidents, natural disaster, or war. These experiences that most people would agree are traumatic, and…

It is really only within the last 100 years or so that we have started to recognize that the effects of trauma do not necessarily end with the person who experienced it. Intergenerational trauma was first researched in 1966 in looking at the high rates…

In 1975 Edward Tronick conducted the ‘Still Face Experiment.’ In this experiment mothers of young children were coached to have a ‘still face’ with their child, in other words they were expressionless and unresponsive (facially or emotionally) to their infant.  Infant’s initial reactions were of…