Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 5, No. 6, 2006, Page 4
The Psychobiology of Trauma and Child Maltreatment
Doni Whitsett, Ph.D., L.C.S.W.
University of Southern California
Abstract
The exploding field of Neurobiology has provided a new dimension to our
understanding of child neglect and abuse. The effects of early stress on the
developing brain and nervous system is now well-documented in the
literature. Many of the symptoms experienced by former cult members and
observed by clinicians can now be conceptualized as a sub-optimal stress
response resulting in affect dysregulation in its various forms. Due to the
inadequate and often abusive parenting practices to which members were
often exposed it is not surprising that symptoms such as anxiety, depression,
rage, dissociation, emotional constriction, and substance abuse/dependence
might occur. This article seeks to explain how these symptoms develop and
what might be done to repair the harm.
Once upon a time, not so long ago, there lived a group of neurobiologists and mental health
practitioners (psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists) who did not talk to one
another. While not everyone could remember how the rift began, many believed it had
something to do with a neurologist named Sigmund Freud who abandoned his pursuit of
medicine in favor of some strange ideas about the mind. Thus, a Great Divide developed
that none dared cross. However, Freud anticipated that at some future date the physical
and behavioral sciences would have to reunite. ―We shall have to find a contact point with
biology,‖ Freud stated in 1895 (as quoted in Schore, 1997, 807).
As predicted, in the modern age it became apparent that both the neurobiology and mental
health camps were equally limited in their individual attempts to explain human behavior
because each was knowledgeable about only a part of the ―elephant.‖ Gradually, perhaps
reluctantly at first, these two eminent groups began a dialogue. And, lo and behold, they
discovered, and continue to discover, that they aren‘t so far apart after all, and that each
knowledge base appears to add explanatory power to the other. Thus began the
rapprochement (Schore, 1997) between the neurobiology and mental health communities as
each opened their hearts and their minds to the other.
The trauma field has been one of the platforms upon which this dialogue has taken place.
Although clinicians had long suspected that the affective and behavioral differences
observed between traumatized people and ―normals,‖ and between people with one type of
early childhood history versus another had underlying physiological substrates, these
suspicions could not be empirically validated. However, with the advent of new
technologies, particularly the fMRI, which has enabled scientists to view the living brain as it
thinks and feels, areas of inquiry previously closed to exploration have opened up.
Child maltreatment includes all intentional and unintentional harm to, or avoidable
endangerment of, anyone under age 18 (Berger, 2005). This definition includes emotional
neglect and physical, sexual, and emotional/verbal abuse. Neglect as a form of child
maltreatment occurs when caregivers fail to meet a child‘s basic needs, including
stimulation and education. Abuse includes all actions that are harmful to a child‘s well-
being, whether deliberately inflicted or not. The victim does not have to be directly affected
witnessing abuse is just as life changing, if not more so (Perry, 2002).
The Psychobiology of Trauma and Child Maltreatment
Doni Whitsett, Ph.D., L.C.S.W.
University of Southern California
Abstract
The exploding field of Neurobiology has provided a new dimension to our
understanding of child neglect and abuse. The effects of early stress on the
developing brain and nervous system is now well-documented in the
literature. Many of the symptoms experienced by former cult members and
observed by clinicians can now be conceptualized as a sub-optimal stress
response resulting in affect dysregulation in its various forms. Due to the
inadequate and often abusive parenting practices to which members were
often exposed it is not surprising that symptoms such as anxiety, depression,
rage, dissociation, emotional constriction, and substance abuse/dependence
might occur. This article seeks to explain how these symptoms develop and
what might be done to repair the harm.
Once upon a time, not so long ago, there lived a group of neurobiologists and mental health
practitioners (psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists) who did not talk to one
another. While not everyone could remember how the rift began, many believed it had
something to do with a neurologist named Sigmund Freud who abandoned his pursuit of
medicine in favor of some strange ideas about the mind. Thus, a Great Divide developed
that none dared cross. However, Freud anticipated that at some future date the physical
and behavioral sciences would have to reunite. ―We shall have to find a contact point with
biology,‖ Freud stated in 1895 (as quoted in Schore, 1997, 807).
As predicted, in the modern age it became apparent that both the neurobiology and mental
health camps were equally limited in their individual attempts to explain human behavior
because each was knowledgeable about only a part of the ―elephant.‖ Gradually, perhaps
reluctantly at first, these two eminent groups began a dialogue. And, lo and behold, they
discovered, and continue to discover, that they aren‘t so far apart after all, and that each
knowledge base appears to add explanatory power to the other. Thus began the
rapprochement (Schore, 1997) between the neurobiology and mental health communities as
each opened their hearts and their minds to the other.
The trauma field has been one of the platforms upon which this dialogue has taken place.
Although clinicians had long suspected that the affective and behavioral differences
observed between traumatized people and ―normals,‖ and between people with one type of
early childhood history versus another had underlying physiological substrates, these
suspicions could not be empirically validated. However, with the advent of new
technologies, particularly the fMRI, which has enabled scientists to view the living brain as it
thinks and feels, areas of inquiry previously closed to exploration have opened up.
Child maltreatment includes all intentional and unintentional harm to, or avoidable
endangerment of, anyone under age 18 (Berger, 2005). This definition includes emotional
neglect and physical, sexual, and emotional/verbal abuse. Neglect as a form of child
maltreatment occurs when caregivers fail to meet a child‘s basic needs, including
stimulation and education. Abuse includes all actions that are harmful to a child‘s well-
being, whether deliberately inflicted or not. The victim does not have to be directly affected
witnessing abuse is just as life changing, if not more so (Perry, 2002).
