FIGURE 5 - uploaded by Bruce Duncan Perry
Content may be subject to copyright.
Developmental Neglect: Emotional or Experiential Deprivation. The ability of the brain to develop a healthy Cortical Modulation ratio (Cortical and Limbic/Midbrain and Brainstem) is impaired when key experiences are minimal or absent. This results in poor modulation of impulsivity, persisting 'primitive' or immature emotional and behavioral functioning and, in combination with other developmental experiences, a predisposition to violence. The ability of the maturing brain then, to modify impulsive and reactive responses in the face of stress or frustration is decreased in individuals deprived of specific developmental experiences.
Context in source publication
Context 1
... are other deprivations of experience which play a major role in impulsive and reactive violence. These are experiences which, in effect, 'feed' and grow the human cortex. As the cortex plays a major role in inhibiting, modulating and regulating the functioning of the lower parts of the central nervous system, any experiences which increase this cortical capacity would be expected to decrease violent behavior. The human cortex grows in size, develops complexity, makes synaptic connections and modifies as a function of the quality and quantity of sensory experience. Lack of type and quantity of sensory-motor and cognitive experiences leads to underdevelopment of the cortex (see Figure 5). The cortical and sub-cortical areas are smaller in individuals who have global environmental neglect. In our preliminary studies, we have demonstrated 'cortical atrophy' (as read independently by neuroradiologists) in 7 of 12 severely neglected children (Pollard and Perry, submitted). These children (average age 8) did not develop cortical and subcortical structures and then have them atrophy. These areas, which develop in a use-dependent fashion, were under-used, resulting in profound underdevelopment of these areas. There are multiple examples the negative impact of environmental deprivation on the developing brain from the animal studies. Rats raised in environmentally enriched setting have a 30% higher synaptic density in cortex than rats raised in an environmentally deprived setting (Bennett et al., 1964;Altman et al., 1964). Animals raised in the wild have from 15 to 30% larger brain mass than their offspring who are domestically reared (Darwin, 1868;Rehkamper et al., 1988;Rohrs, ...
Similar publications
University Incubation Centres: Centerstage for Start-up
Citations
... In child psychology, there is an understanding that "it can be too late, but never too early" in safeguarding the mental health of babies and infants [211] (Acquarone, 2004), so too, this could be argued, for the safeguarding of canine mental health. When the mother of a human infant is experiencing acute stress during pregnancy, resulting in the foetus being "incubated in terror [212]", often the causes of the stress are unavoidable or difficult to remove [213]. When a potential dog caregiver is making the decision about sourcing a puppy to join their family, the time and diligence invested in getting advice and researching breeders or other sources of puppies should be taken without any pressure at all [214]. ...
Simple Summary
Trauma-informed care (TIC) is an approach which has been utilised in human psychology for many years now. TIC considers how important early experience is in determining lifelong responses to challenging situations, how individuals respond to stress, how they overcome it, and their ability to develop and sustain resilience. There are a number of scientific publications which consider the importance of early experience in animals, both in utero and during their early development. This paper considers aspects of TIC approaches for humans which might be applied in dogs, focusing on both prevention of behavioural problems, by protecting puppies from adverse early experiences, and also, assessment of shelter dogs or those presented for problematic behaviours. A TIC approach for dogs would result in the following: the realisation that adverse early experience has significant consequences for canine welfare; recognising that where dogs respond in an apparently irrational or over the top manner, it may be the result of previous trauma; people involved in the care of these dogs must respond with empathy, understanding, and practical solutions to improve the welfare of the dog, while avoiding the need to re-traumatise them in as part of the diagnostic or treatment processes.
Abstract
Dog caregiver reporting on the spectrum of fearful–aggressive behaviours often describes ‘unpredictable’ or ‘exaggerated’ responses to a situation/animal/person. A possible explanation for these behavioural responses considers that the dog is reacting to triggered memories for which the dog has a negative association. For many dogs undergoing veterinary behavioural treatment or rehabilitation through a canine rescue organisation, the assessing clinician relies on “proxy” reporting of the history/background by a caregiver (dog owner, foster carer, or shelter personnel). Detailed information on the event or circumstances resulting in this negative association may be limited or absent altogether. Consideration of a trauma-informed care (TIC) approach, currently applied in a wide range of human psychology and social care fields, may be helpful in guiding the clinical approach taken. The literature relating to adverse early experience (AEE) and trauma-informed care (TIC) in puppies/dogs compared to children/adults was evaluated to identify common themes and conclusions identified across both species. In the absence of known/identifiable trauma, behavioural assessment and management should consider that a ‘problem’ dog may behave as it does, as the result of previous trauma. The dog can then be viewed through a lens of empathy and understanding, often lacking for dogs presenting with impulsive, reactive, or aggressive behaviours. Assessment must avoid re-traumatising the animal through exposure to triggering stimuli and, treatment options should include counselling of caregivers on the impact of adverse early experiences, consideration of the window of tolerance, and TIC behavioural modification techniques.
... Malleability in childhood connotes the capacity for children to be shaped and formed (pliable), to be easily influenced (tractable), and to adjust to changing circumstances (adaptable). 33 This malleability, as Milanich points out, made (and makes) young people cultivatable and therefore valuable cultural resources. As John Hood-Williams reminds us, however, "popular conceptions of 'reproduction' . . . ...
Sarah Maza has argued that "children obviously don't make history" given they are marginal to more meaningful, adult-driven change over time. In her response to Maza's claims, Nara Milanich encourages historians of children and youth to explore children's unique modalities of power, rather than focusing on their agency, to help unearth youthful contributions to historical change. Here, I engage with two of these four modalities of power as outlined by Milanich, namely children's temporariness and their ostensible malleability (via a reciprocal process I call "negotiated malleability") to social reproduction, using examples from my research on the Elementary Correspondence School (ECS) that operated in the western Canadian province of British Columbia between 1919 and the late 1950s. Rather than searching for children's agency in this history, however, I think through their entanglements with temporariness and malleability in relation to adults. In so doing, I demonstrate how and why young people wielded power and how they effected powerful responses from adults—primarily the parents, teachers, and administrators associated with the ECS. I argue that analyzed through a framework that privileges children's modalities of power in relation to adults, children emerge as significant contributors to change over time.
... Perry (1999) confirms the body's innate autonomous ability to do so, drawing attention to how people will instinctively adopt the fetal position to retrieve motor/vestibular and state memories of warmth, safety and calm. The neurological consequences of intero-perceived safety include optimizing communication between cortical, limbic and lower parts of the brain leading to clarity of thought and decision-making (Perry, 1997) and promoting the emergence, tolerance and expression of emotions (Selvam, 2022). ...
... Physiologically, the amount of available energy increases thanks to the deactivation of threatresponsive energy-consuming activities such as hyper-vigilance and muscle tension (Perry, 1997;Levine, 1997 Without the internal feeling of safety provided by power-from-within, a person threatened by external power-over dynamics may well adopt power-over dynamics themselves in an attempt to assert agency and regain a sense of control over their lives. Perry (2014) explains how control offers an antidote to trauma's unpredictability while lack of control is anxiety-inducing since it re-enforces the helplessness experienced during trauma. ...
... In somatic terms, control equates to anxiety since it may be expressed through exertion, tension, muscle contraction, holding ones' breath, hyper-vigilance and freezing (the body's attempt to control hyper-activation that has become overwhelming). These are all autonomic threat responses activated by the limbic system and brainstem (Perry, 1997). Importantly, these responses function not only as reactions but also as communications. ...
The integration of somatic approaches in art therapy can counter the trauma of microaggressions. By adopting a power-from-within stance, art therapists can facilitate sessions for clients to affirm their LGBTQIA+ identities while resisting the impact of discrimination. This article, co-written by an art therapist and client, provides lived experience examples of somatic art therapy: Somatic Experiencing® integrated with body tracing, and sensorimotor art therapy (the Clay Field®). The authors concur that somatically integrated art therapy has helped replace automized behavioral patterns based on fear with behavioral choices that emerged from a place of safety. Implications for therapeutic alliance and power dynamics within art therapy sessions are explored as tenets of body-based self-reflection.
Keywords: Cultural humility; LGBTQIA+; sensorimotor art therapy; somatic art therapy; therapeutic alliance
... 30 In the 1970s, Masten, Garmezy, and other psychologists began studying what resources and influences protect children 31 and help them develop resilience, a manifestation of brain network capacity that supports recovery and the ability to respond to challenges. 32 For children, foundational attachment relationships with primary caregivers and other nurturing adults buffer the adverse impact of routine developmental challenges, oppressive term Definition ...
... Federico often has to deal with the consequences of behaviour that 'goes over the edge' caused by states of dysregulation: hyperactivity in the brainstem and midbrain that creates impulses his cortex has limited power to control (Levine, 1997;Perry, 1997Perry, , 2009. The question, 'Why did you do that?' is as unanswerable as it is humiliating. ...
... The question, 'Why did you do that?' is as unanswerable as it is humiliating. Perry (1997Perry ( , 2002Perry ( , 2009) and Schore (1994Schore ( , 2003 have written extensively on the long-lasting physiological and neurological consequences of traumatic experiences (be they in the form of abuse or neglect) on the developing brain. The gravity of these consequences is necessarily related to the stage of development: firstly, because each stage is built upon the previous one and secondly because the extent of the effects will depend upon the resilience of the nervous system at that moment in time (Perry & Winfrey, 2021a). ...
... The gravity of these consequences is necessarily related to the stage of development: firstly, because each stage is built upon the previous one and secondly because the extent of the effects will depend upon the resilience of the nervous system at that moment in time (Perry & Winfrey, 2021a). Both Perry and Schore have examined the interconnected neuroscientific processes (eg single-trial learning, synaptic sculpting, circuit overpruning) that determine what Perry (1997) terms 'compromised cortical modulation ' and Schore (2003) 'affect dysregulation'. Core to this phenomena is an over-(re)active stress response system (lower and mid-brain) that leads in time to under-developed limbic and cortical areas (Perry, 1997). ...
Background
Sensorimotor Art Therapy acknowledges the importance of Somatic Experiencing (SE) in its development as a physiological technique to treat trauma. Both disciplines seek to regulate the nervous system, favouring stress management and affect regulation. This article promotes the integration of SE within psychodynamically-oriented art therapy pathways, so that psychological and physiological techniques can compliment each other.
Context
This paper is based on an interview with 13-year-old Federico Gentile (pseudonym). He has had weekly individual art therapy sessions for two years. Art therapy began 15 months after he began living with his adoptive parents.
Approach
Trauma can be defined as the rupture of a boundary on many different levels (physiological, psychological, social). A common thread throughout the sessions was the testing and repairing of boundaries. The therapist herself found it necessary to break two boundaries: giving the user a gift and integrating SE techniques from outside our field.
Outcomes
The young boy (as lived-experience-author) explains how he sees and defines himself describing which interventions helped him be ‘more controlled now’ and see his life ‘in colour, instead of just grey’.
Conclusions
Treating trauma requires a complex approach, focused in the here and now, ignoring the mind’s theory of ‘should’ and responding to the body’s ‘felt sense’.
Implications for Research
SE has enhanced my ability to work physiologically, integrating bodily sensations with affect and imagery. Further research could offer guidelines towards an integrative approach that could be useful to other psychodynamically trained art therapists working with attachment trauma.
Plain-language summary
Trauma has physical as well as psychological consequences and therefore needs healing in both these aspects. A form of art therapy known as ‘sensorimotor’ that focuses on bodily sensations and muscular (motor) responses has been developed for this purpose (pioneered by Cornelia Elbrecht), based on knowledge gained from Somatic Experiencing (pioneered by Peter Levine). I am trained in Sensorimotor Art Therapy and have found that further training in Somatic Experiencing is helping me introduce this outlook into my art therapy practice, allowing me to shift my focus when necessary from the art materials to the body, exploring the body’s response as it interacts with the materials. I believe this could be useful to other art therapists who wish to broaden their horizons in this direction.
I interviewed 13-year-old Federico Gentile (pseudonym) in order to present his experience of art therapy from his perspective. At the time of interview, Federico had done art therapy with me for 2 years. We began sessions 15 months after he began living with his adoptive parents.
I find it helpful to think of trauma as an experience that goes beyond our limits in many different ways: it challenges our physical, mental and social limits of toleration. As such it is no surprise that our therapy was centred around testing limits. As the therapist, I overstepped two limits: giving the boy a gift and integrating Somatic Experiencing techniques from outside our field. Federico talks about specific things in art therapy that helped him be ‘more controlled now’ and see his life ‘in colour, instead of just grey’. There is no one answer to healing trauma and sometimes, when we are beyond our limits and don’t ‘know’ what’s right, we can only respond by ‘feeling’ what’s right. Somatic Experiencing helps us contact and trust that ‘feeling’.
... In the late 1990's, a seismic shift occurred in our understanding of the importance of childhood experience. As research linked the impact of trauma and neglect on children's brain development in 1997 (17) and the publication of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) (18) research in 1998, mindsets began shifting from 'they'll get over it' to ' it stays with them for life.' Medical and mental health professionals came to understand that the perceived behavioral problems of children as well as risky behaviors and health conditions of adults were forms of coping with childhood experiences. The world of children took on a new salience as research demonstrated that being hit in childhood was related to adult mental health impairment and met the criteria for being included as an ACE (19). ...
No Hit Zones (NHZs) are a recently developed intervention program contributing to a larger movement that aims to end corporal punishment of children, a key risk factor for child physical abuse. Through the vehicle of environmental change, NHZs work to alter individual and social norms that support hitting children and move to a new normal where developmentally focused alternatives to hitting become the norm for relationships and interactions between parents/caregivers and children. Drawing on Lewin's technique of force field analysis, this discussion identifies various driving forces that are contributing to the end corporal punishment movement and from which NHZ implementation formulates its content. In addition, this discussion analyzes NHZs as 'planned change' efforts, identifying change processes and techniques that NHZs employ to bring about changes in norms and behavior.
... The unleashing and supporting of the ECP youths' compassion offers ideas for pastors seeking to find ways to engage youth in surmounting the massive obstacles confronting them due to contemporary social inequalities. Humans behave violently not because of some mystical genetic or physical flaw but because their experiences have shaped them to that end (Perry, 1997). Violence is not inevitable; it can be healed (Hoffman et al. 2011). ...
Youth beset by community violence, racism, and deep poverty experience profound suffering, and it is important to learn about their strengths to support them. To that end, we asked African American youths in Chicago what made social services provided to them by the Empowering Counseling Program meaningful to them. Their responses focused on the giving and receiving of compassion. To illuminate these youths’ experiences, this study examines their understandings of compassion in light of scriptural references to compassion. In the Old Testament, compassion is a passionate, personal force and an essential virtue. Yahweh self-defines as the compassionate and merciful one. In the New Testament, compassion is the English translation of three different Greek words: splagchnizomai, eleos, and agape. Splagchnizomai signifies an inner experience of Jesus that compels him to heal, teach, and nourish people. Eleos refers to acts of mercy, a response to human sinfulness exemplified by Jesus’ forgiveness, and is a capacity his followers must fulfill. Agape refers to God’s nature, represented in Jesus, and is a potential in all persons. Themes that the scriptural references and the youths’ data have in common are highlighted. In the narratives of both the youths and Scripture, compassionate responses address suffering and alienation with consolation, forgiveness, care, healing, and reconnection. Acts of compassion are to be extended to strangers as well as to friends and family and should always include respect for the autonomy and choices of others. Both the youths and Scripture regard compassion as a transforming liberation from stigma, social oppression, and terror, a life-giving process that brings hope and joy, and a commitment that endures across relationships and time.
... Mentalizing is severely impaired by experiencing traumatic levels of violence or anxiety, in part because in thinking about one's feelings one must re-experience the emotions that are associated with the event. Perry (1997Perry ( , 2002Perry ( , 2009) has documented the impacts of trauma on brain development and cognition, finding that children who have been victimized suffer developmental arrests. Bragin (2005;Bragin & Bragin, 2010) has developed school and community-based programs that remediate some of these cognitive delays and arrests through school and community-based programs. ...
Despite efforts to broaden the focus of school safety provision beyond eliminating individual problematic students, interventions in school contexts have traditionally focused on helping the troubled child adapt to the school; less often do schools view the child's symptoms as reflecting troubles in the community which in turn impact children. Even the “school climate” approach, which is innovative in viewing the child in light of social influences contributing to identity and affective co‐regulation, may not sufficiently illuminate the interactions among neurobiology, teaching methods, family support/networks, organizational systems, and cultural/political disruptions. In this article, we focus on Cohen and Rappaport’s complementary papers on preventing school violence. Although both papers thoughtfully consider individual and school‐climate factors, a common feature in both is the replication of our cultural tendency to split the psychic domain from the social realm—to favor approaches that emphasize individual psychopathology over ones that view the individual and community as inextricably linked and mutually constitutive (Layton, 2020). Models for assessment often unconsciously favor frameworks for understanding individuals' symptoms as opposed to approaches that view symptoms as expressing the needs and troubles of both the individual and the community. We propose that the dialectical relationship between individual and community is the nexus from which we can understand the impact of family and community distress on individual psychopathology in ways that could culminate in a violent incident. We will explore how, in the context of Cohen's policy proposals and Rappaport's case study, a community psychoanalytic model can mobilize different interventions and resources.
... The response of a traumatised child perceiving a threat in the environment is fear. The fearful child is often misunderstood as being oppositional, defiant or exhibiting controlling behaviours (Perry, 1997). Ironically, the main aim of the child at this point is to achieve the neuroception of safety, a subconcious quest for safety (Porges, 2004). ...
INTRODUCTION: This article presents a research-informed model of trauma responsive care for use in residential care practice social work settings with children and young people in Aotearoa New Zealand. The model was developed from a qualitative project which sought to address the research question “Does the quality of relationships with staff members have a positive impact on outcomes for children who reside in group home settings?”METHODS: Using semi-structured, in-depth interviews, eight children were interviewed regarding their experience of relationships while living within supervised group homes (SGHs). In order to gain multiple perspectives on this topic, six biological parents and two legal guardians of children were interviewed and focus group discussions were held with staff members from three SGHs. Thematic analysis was used to identify key themes identified from the findings.FINDINGS: Five dominant themes were identified from the children’s and parent’s interviews. The central theme was the importance of relationships; that relationship is the key when working with children who have experienced trauma. Children who have experienced trauma need to feel safe in the context of relationships and benefit from bottom-up interventions in order to heal from their traumatic experiences.CONCLUSION: A research-informed model of trauma responsive care was constructed from study findings informed by two principal bodies of knowledge: (1) attachment theory; and (2) neuroscience. The resultant trauma responsive care model provides a framework of strategies for anyone working with children in residential care settings who have experienced trauma and/ or attachment difficulties.
... Violence exposure is heterogeneous in etiology, quality, quantity, and impact (Perry, 1997). It is essential to examine if the type of violence exposure (witnessing vs. victimization) and where it takes place (home, school, neighborhood) differentially impact youth. ...
... In terms of practice efforts, the heterogeneity of violence exposure dictates heterogeneity of intervention (Perry, 1997). For youth or adults already exposed to violence, assessment and treatment efforts must consider the location in which this exposure took place, and employ a trauma-informed treatment that considers the relevant developmental disruption specific to each context. ...
Violence exposure during childhood and adolescence is associated with a range of negative psychosocial outcomes. Research examining the impact of violence exposure has been limited by the compartmentalization into separate bodies of research (e.g., community violence, domestic violence). There is also a paucity of research examining long-term adult outcomes. Using a large and racially diverse sample ( n = 754; male = 58%; Black = 46%), the current longitudinal study aimed to elucidate the comparative and cumulative effect of different types of violence exposure (witnessing vs. victimization) across different locations (home, school, neighborhood) in childhood and adolescence (lifetime through Grade 8) on long-term internalizing, externalizing, and attention problems; substance use; and intimate partner violence in adulthood (age 25). Victimization, but not witnessing violence, predicted all five adult outcomes. Specifically, being victimized at home was associated with the widest range of negative outcomes (internalizing, externalizing, and attention problems), while school victimization was associated with substance use. Further, when youth experienced multiple types of violence across multiple locations (cumulative violence exposure), they experienced a more diverse range of negative outcomes in adulthood (composite score). The current study highlights the stronger effects of violence exposure in more proximal contexts, and how these locations are important for emotional and behavioral development.
