(HS Lyons-Ruth 052729 2021) Beyond Fight, Flight or Freeze: Threat of Abandonment and Its Developmental Consequences: A 30-Ye

Course overview

Our nervous system has an organized stress response system with different developmentally sensitive periods the fear of abandonment and the fear of attack. Our 30 year longitudinal study has revealed the impacts of caregiver withdrawing behaviors on the development of the human nervous system and the long-term impacts that early disrupted attachment has on adulthood. Key points Two differently organized stress response systems, with different developmental sensitive periods, are likely to be active in human development: Fear of Abandonment and Fear of Attack. These systems motivate different but contradictory adaptive responses: fight, flight or freeze versus call and contact seek. Withdrawing behaviors by the caregiver are associated with activation of fear of abandonment and subsequent role confusion in relation to the caregiver. Attachment disturbances, and caregiver withdrawal in particular, are associated with long-term deviations in amygdala and hippocampal development. Contributions of both early attachment disturbance and later childhood abuse need to be separately conceptualized in treatment approaches to complex trauma.