Trauma Theory Of Childhood Trauma
Introduction
Childhood traumas have been associated with many psychological problems later in life. Specifically, sexual abuse during childhood shows correlations with many different types of anxiety disorder. There are many theories as to why this is, but most of the prominent ones deal with memory repression. Freud first introduced memory repression when he described it as consciously taking an event out of their memory. Since the population of child sexual abuse survivors is to be 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 20 men, it is important to understand the possible implications of their trauma, to prevent the chance of negative consequences, as they grow older. Especially in those that experience dissociative amnesia, a type of memory loss that follows losing key details about different events, such as childhood trauma. In order to understand how to treat those with memory loss following their childhood trauma, it is important to understand what causes it. There has been multiple studies …show more content…
The Betrayal Trauma theory, defined as, when someone necessary to maintain a relationship, betrays a child, they are more likely to experience a more severe trauma. In a self-report study done by O’Rinn, those abused by a parental figure had a lower level of memory retention than those that were not (O’Rinn 2013). In a self-report study that involved 129 African American women, there was a greater memory loss in those abused by a family member (Williams 1994). Williams suggests that memory by a stranger may be more memorable because of aspects of fear that are evoked. The difference is memory retention also spans across those that had violent abuse as opposed to those that were not. Of the 129 women, 62% of their sexual abuse involved violence, but there was no significant difference between them. Therefore, violence is not a third variable that could be mediating the relationship between memory loss and
Childhood traumas have been associated with many psychological problems later in life. Specifically, sexual abuse during childhood shows correlations with many different types of anxiety disorder. There are many theories as to why this is, but most of the prominent ones deal with memory repression. Freud first introduced memory repression when he described it as consciously taking an event out of their memory. Since the population of child sexual abuse survivors is to be 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 20 men, it is important to understand the possible implications of their trauma, to prevent the chance of negative consequences, as they grow older. Especially in those that experience dissociative amnesia, a type of memory loss that follows losing key details about different events, such as childhood trauma. In order to understand how to treat those with memory loss following their childhood trauma, it is important to understand what causes it. There has been multiple studies …show more content…
The Betrayal Trauma theory, defined as, when someone necessary to maintain a relationship, betrays a child, they are more likely to experience a more severe trauma. In a self-report study done by O’Rinn, those abused by a parental figure had a lower level of memory retention than those that were not (O’Rinn 2013). In a self-report study that involved 129 African American women, there was a greater memory loss in those abused by a family member (Williams 1994). Williams suggests that memory by a stranger may be more memorable because of aspects of fear that are evoked. The difference is memory retention also spans across those that had violent abuse as opposed to those that were not. Of the 129 women, 62% of their sexual abuse involved violence, but there was no significant difference between them. Therefore, violence is not a third variable that could be mediating the relationship between memory loss and