Abstract
The chapter presents a historical overview of the ideas about potential traumatic factors in child development, their long-term consequences in psychological well-being and social functioning. The traumatic impact is explored in the frame of the concepts of intergenerational transmission of patterns and the vicious cycle of violence. The concept of cumulative developmental trauma (complex trauma, developmental trauma disorder) is introduced as a relational phenomenon that includes at least two generations. From a psychoanalytic relational viewpoint, the impact of social trauma on development is described through the vicissitudes in meaning making process, the sense of agency, identity development and the sense of trust. Dynamics of personal, interpersonal and social processes that are involved both in traumatization and its long lasting consequences, that also play an important role in resilience and recovery, are discussed. Keywords: cumulative developmetal trauma, relational diathesis, attachment, mentalization, false self
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Hancheva, C. (2021). Developmental Trauma and Society. In: Hamburger, A., Hancheva, C., Volkan, V.D. (eds) Social Trauma – An Interdisciplinary Textbook. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47817-9_15
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