Childhood trauma can leave a lasting mark, shaping a child's development and influencing their wellbeing well into adulthood. The trauma may come from a single unexpected event, such as witnessing a car accident, or from ongoing, repeated experiences such as abuse or neglect. Both kinds can overwhelm a child's ability to cope and significantly disrupt normal psychological development.
Ongoing trauma and psychological defences
When a child faces continuous trauma, such as abuse or neglect, they often develop strong psychological defences to protect themselves. Unlike a one-off traumatic event, which a child may eventually move past, ongoing trauma forces them to constantly shield their psyche from breaking down. That struggle can lead to problems that persist into adulthood, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), difficulties in personal relationships, and dissociation, a state of feeling disconnected from oneself or from reality.
Briere's self-trauma model
The psychologist John Briere's self-trauma model explains how childhood trauma, especially abuse and neglect, disrupts development and causes long-term emotional and psychological difficulty. Four factors play a role: changes in attachment dynamics, distorted thinking patterns, early signs of PTSD, and the use of primitive coping strategies. Together they shape how a child responds to trauma and how it affects them later in life.
Attachment
Attachment dynamics are especially important. Research shows that trauma deeply affects how children form and keep relationships, in childhood and later as adults. In a nurturing environment a child learns to form secure attachments with caregivers who are consistent, loving and supportive, which builds a stable sense of self and healthy relationships. With abuse or neglect, attachment patterns often become insecure, leading to problems with identity and relationships later on.
Insecure attachment can make it hard to develop a clear and stable sense of who you are. Children who experience abuse or neglect often internalise negative beliefs about themselves and others, which leads to a distorted self-image and mistrust. This disruption in attachment contributes to trauma-related symptoms such as PTSD, dissociation, and unhealthy coping such as substance use or self-harm.
Internal working models
John Bowlby's attachment theory explains how early experiences influence adult relationships. Kim Bartholomew extended it with the idea of internal working models: mental frameworks, based on early attachment experiences, that shape how we see ourselves and others. These models can be positive or negative, depending on whether we feel worthy of love and whether we believe others can be trusted and relied on.
Bartholomew's model identifies four attachment styles: secure, fearful, dismissing and preoccupied. A secure style is marked by positive views of self and others, leading to healthy, trusting relationships. The insecure styles (fearful, dismissing and preoccupied) involve negative views of the self, of others, or both, resulting in difficulty with relationships and with managing emotions.
Childhood trauma, particularly ongoing abuse or neglect, has a profound and lasting effect on psychological development. Understanding how attachment dynamics and internal working models are shaped by early trauma helps us design effective support for people who have experienced it, so they can build healthier, more secure relationships as adults. Read about psychotherapy for trauma in my practice.