Healing Developmental Trauma: A Systems Approach to Counseling Individuals, Couples, and Families

This text is designed for college course adoptions and for professionals studying traumatology, counseling, social work, developmental psychology, and family systems therapy. It presents a systemic perspective on the effects of developmental shock, trauma, and stress and outlines a practical and hopeful approach for addressing them. The book presents a "trauma continuum" which differentiates developmental shock, trauma, and stress as distinct psychobiological states. It shows how they are transmitted intergenerationally in individuals, couples, and families through fractal patterns of relational dynamics that delay human evolution. There are practical, proven interventions for helping people heal their effects. The text also contains diagnostic inventories and case examples drawn from the authors' personal experiences and clinical practice. Contents: Part One: Developmental Systems Theory; What Is Developmental Systems Theory?; Theoretical Foundations. Part Two: LOVEvolution; LOVEvolution and the Essential Developmental Processes of the Codependent Stage of Individual Development; LOVEvolution and the Essential Developmental Processes of the Counterdependent Stage of Individual Development. Part Three: Developmental Trauma; The Trauma Continuum; Developmental Shock, Trauma, and Stress in the Codependent Stage of Individual Development; Developmental Shock, Trauma, and Stress in the Counterdependent Stage of Individual Development; The Impact of Developmental Shock, Trauma, and Stress on the Mindbody Connection. Part Four: A Systems Approach for Healing Developmental Trauma; Developmental Process Work; A Systems Approach for Healing Developmental Shock, Trauma, and Stress in Individuals; An Annotated Analysis of the Transcription of an Individual DPW Session; A Systems Approach to Healing Developmental Shock, Trauma, and Stress in Couples; A Systems Approach to Healing Developmental Shock, Trauma, and Stress in Families. Part Five: Developmental Process Consultation