The Nature of Trauma and Dissociation

How trauma impairs integration

In this commentary, Dr Dan Siegel places trauma in the context of developmental psychology and the significant negative impact it can have on a child’s emotional growth, distinguishing ‘small T traumas’ from experiences involving persistent threat to the physical or psychological integrity of the victim. This presentation outlines the neurobiology of the sympathetic nervous system that is involved in PTSD and considers a model of integration. Dan Siegel proposes that the flow of energy and information are fundamental components of a healthy state of mind; that trauma interrupts that capacity and creates a fundamental impairment in self-organization.