Psychotherapy with children traumatized in infancy

Abstract

Abstract This paper attempts to explore the nature and consequences of trauma in infancy by an exploration of a prototype of trauma when babies are born addicted to heroin. The trauma not only involves a painful withdrawal from the drug and invasive medical procedures carried out in isolation in a special care baby unit, but often also an ongoing cumulative trauma of the lack of availability of a receptive containing parent. The paper raises specific issues about these babies as well as about trauma in general. It examines current psychoanalytic, attachment and other theories about trauma and resilience, and includes an infant observation of a baby in a special care baby unit who was born addicted. A detailed case is presented, illustrated by sequences of drawings by an 11-year-old boy who had been born addicted. These show how the lack of containment of any sort in infancy had profound effects on the child's ability to process his emotional experience in any meaningful way. An attempt is made to evaluate the effectiveness of the psychotherapy using criteria derived from Mary Main's work on disordered/chaotic infants. This involves a shift from disintegration and a lack of resolution of any crisis towards the emergence of the possibility of a hopeful outcome.