Child trauma, attachment and biofeedback mitigation

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the correlation between the quality of attachment in early infancy and the effects of child trauma, as well as to introduce some innovative therapeutic approaches. For this reason, a group of 10 children manifesting post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), diagnosed by ICD-10, was selected. The mean age of the patients was 9 +/- 3.05 years, from both sexes (girls 3, boys 7). Mothers and children were examined by a battery of psychometric instruments Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL), Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), and State Anxiety Inventory (STAI). In addition to the classical psychotherapeutic methods (supportive, behaviour and play therapy), the multimodal computerised biofeedback technique was introduced for both assessment and therapy. The results for the children showed a high level of anxiety and stress, somatisation and behavioural problems (aggressivity, impulsivity, non-obedience, and nightmares), complemented by hypersensitive and depressive mothers and miss-attachment in the early period of infancy. Consequently, the explanation of the early predisposition to PTSD was related to be the non-developed Right Orbitofrontal Cortex-ROFC. The latter resulted from insecure attachment confirmed in all the children examined. The therapeutic results obtained with biofeedback techniques are very encouraging.