Young children remember: The family as a resource in the treatment of pre-verbal childhood trauma
Author Identifier (ORCID)
Raffaella Salvo: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-7779-7166
Abstract
Infants can suffer intensely from multiple traumatizing situations such as accidents, invasive medical procedures, prematurity, separation from parents, suffocation, domestic violence, and sexual, physical, or emotional abuse or neglect. Traumatic experiences of the young child are expressed not only in infantile symptoms but also in relational ones. This chapter describes the brief relational parent-child EMDR therapy protocol that takes into account key factors from intersubjective theory of infant and young child development and the guiding principles of dyadic and relational therapeutic interventions developed within the field of infant mental health. The aim of this family treatment is to free the child, the parents, and their relationships from the “impact of unprocessed traumatic memories that can create deficits in affective co-regulation and emergent sense of self and other, " as well as somatization, affective/cognitive distortions, and relational blockages between the child and his/her parents. This helps the child and family to resume individual and relational growth, otherwise blocked by the trauma. The use of this protocol is illustrated with a case example.
Document Type
Book Chapter
Date of Publication
1-1-2025
Publication Title
International Family Systems Therapy: Global Perspectives on the Healing Power of Families
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
School
School of Arts and Humanities
Copyright
subscription content
First Page
309
Last Page
317
Comments
Struik, A., & Salvo, R. (2025). Young children remember: The family as a resource in the treatment of pre-verbal childhood trauma. In International Family Systems Therapy: Global Perspectives on the Healing Power of Families (pp. 309–317). Taylor & Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003536765-35