Developmental Trauma Disorder inclusion

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I often question if I was "born ND" and this new inclusion to the DSM-V may bring hope to the many of us who were abused into permanent neurological and physiological damage. My thought is that this revelation in persistent abuse may change the lives of many. What do you guys think? There is even an overlap with some ASD symptoms and misdiagnosis of BiPolar/ADHD/ODD is also a key factor that is a step forward in truly making progress on very complex PTSD from childhood.

http://www.traumacenter.org/announcemen ... Oct_09.pdf

A good read.

I've met a lot of people in the course of my work who might benefit, in the long term, from this diagnosis.

very interesting but i wonder when they mean early adolencence how late does that refer to and also if someone was already delayed due to developmental disabilities and there for lack of a better term "mental age" was still in adolencent range or below would that count

Those are really good questions! I know that early adolescence tends to mean age 9-12, but I do not know how to answer the other two. Wonder if any one else knows maybe?

Doubt it. Even if your MA is behind, typically many of the milestones of emotional maturity still occur. For example, severely disabled teens still experience a need for more independence and decision-making (which unfortunately often gets mistaken for regression). Research in the Strange Situation shows that DD kids typically show separation anxiety at 9-24 months, just like NT kids do, and older DD kids who are at an MA of 9-18 months usually don't show separation anxiety. This suggests that emotional maturity is separate from IQ.

Incidentally, to me this sounds like a broader version of Reactive Attachment Disorder, rather than PTSD, given their focus on attachment disruption - 'significant disruptions of protective caregiving'. PTSD is not necessarily related to attachment issues, you can have childhood-onset PTSD and secure attachment, if the trauma had nothing to do with your caregivers. (An example would be kids affected by natural disasters, or abused by non-caregivers.)

I have PTSD, and for a while I thought it was one specific event(lockdown/student killed, no details because I've told that story too many times) that caused it....but I've come to realize it couldn't have just been that. I wasn't nessisarily 'abused' at least not in a direct way...and some of the damaging things I experianced where more from misunderstanding. Like being on the autism spectrum I have sensory issues so as a kid if I would complain about a light being to bright or normal noise being too loud I got a lot of 'don't make a big deal of nothing.' 'quit whining.' 'you're not the only one here.' and such because they didn't understand it was actually distressing to me...they may have thought I was being picky or whatever. So though I doubt it was the intention I kinda got it ingrained in my mind that my feelings, emotions and even needs or wants don't matter and if I bring them up I am being selfish. Even to this day its really hard for me to say no to a request even if i am really not up for it or its actually too much for me, and I am always worried about how everyone else feels and exaust myself trying to accomodate everyone while keeping what I am really feeling to myself. Then I get irritable and start snapping at people and no one understands the exhaustion I feel from essentially trying to make sure everyone else is taken care of while neglecting my own needs.

Then at school there was some more direct mistreatment, teachers deliberetly singling me out, and joining in on the bullying and ostracism I received from the other kids and telling me its my fault for not being normal essentially...Not all teachers where like that, but even one teacher like that is more than enough. So now I am quite sure all of that contributed to the PTSD as well and effected my over-all development.

what if part of your developmental delay was in emotional maturity and/or social development like some of us on the spectrum have i agree it has nothing to do with iq you can have a high iq and still have a delay in Emotional development

I'm wondering how this applies to adults who've been in long-term abuse situations as children. I would fit a lot of the criteria myself, but I do not have attachment issues or PTSD. There are a lot of features of Borderline Personality Disorder included that I can't personally identify with. It often occurs to me that my autistic symptoms are likely at least in part of the treatment I received as a child. (Periods of months on end where the only social interaction I had was being given food.)

Because of this, I'm very interested in the neurological effects of such treatment.

I'm the poser child of their DSM-V write up and this has been something that no one ever would have even mentioned when I was a child or even a young adult out of fear of "offending or disrespecting a parent/guardian". Very few criteria have to be met and it is good that they're acknowledging that other problems, permanent damage, and developmental stunting occur without classic PTSD or attachment issues. I saw no features of BPD in the proposed diagnostic, there was allowance for a variance of manifestations when looking at the minimum criterial required from each bullet. How do you think this mimics BPD?

The physiological effects are intriguing since I developed many autoimmune problems (allergies, celiacs, asthma) during the course of my abusive upbringing. My learning disabilities and permanent misreadings in feeling hunger or sleepiness or needing to use to bathroom were also listed when therapists simply tried to label me bipolar/schizoaffective and dismiss everything as "psychosis" or a "mixed state". After 5 years of being med free I've learned to face and work on these demons without being numbed or provoked chemically, but I swear I was only misdiagnosed and drugged my entire childhood and early adulthood because an option like this (along with fear of those "paying the bills") never existed.

I too would like to see a comparison on neurological, physiological, and early onset chronic conditions involving digestion, sleep regulation, development in muscle and bone, along with any other developmental weakening, stunting, or degrading of tissue. The pills given to me for conditions I didn't have before puberty ended surely added to the stunting, but there was plenty that occurred before I was old enough to crawl and far more in elementary school even though it was more subtle. I often wonder if I'd be as sickly as I am now had I not been tortured the first 17 years of my life.

I can appreciate that. I was diagnosed with Chronic Bronchitis at 10. There are certainly effects things, especially negligence of health that can cause long term damage.

Some of the things that reminded me of BPD were: B1, B3, C2, C4, C5, D1, D2, D3, D4, & D5.

Combined you have:

Unstable Affect in extreme polarities.
Dissociative Symptoms
Risk Taking and Thrill seeking behavior.
Self Harm
Inability to maintain goals.
Intense Relationships
Self Loathing
Distrustful of others
Quick temper
Inappropriate attempts to get intimate contact.

All of which are considered symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder.

Can these exist independently without being an accurate reaction to abuse or mistreatment sustained over time?

Yes, though combined I would presume the chance of abuse would be significantly higher.

Honestly, it seems like a very different reaction than I've had. Perhaps this is due to the nature of my past. For me, It made me extremely quiet and gave me massive social difficulties. While I have the self-loathing and distrust I'm unable to express anger at all. Instead of acting outward I freeze. If confronted I become mute, and paralyzed with fear. I'm not a risk-taker, if anything I'm extremely afraid of risk. Instead of seeking intimacy, I find myself extremely uncomfortable and distant to others. I do however have the inability to maintain goals described.

I think this is in large because of the nature of my neglect. (Social Isolation.) I think perhaps it damaged me developmentally. I've read a lot about the effects of social isolation on developmental processes. I think that perhaps because of the isolation, my brain didn't grow in the way a healthy brain would, and instead of adopting the circuitry that forms through communication, I've developed completely different brain wiring. It's almost like there is a scale of social removal, on one side you have people who understand "Normal" well enough that they react in a way that attempts to seek approval or attention to cover up the experience. (Like BPD) On the other end, you have complete removal of social graces and development of complex neurological abnormalities. (Like Feral Children.) I think these things exist on a spectrum, of sorts.

To put it another way. A child whose parents are distant may adopt attention seeking behavior to rectify the perceived deficit. A child whose parents are chronically missing, may stop seeking attention and become isolated. A child whose parents are nearly completely or totally absent loses their ability to understand there is a deficit, having been forgotten and left to their own.

What do you think about the spectrum approach using social isolation as psychometrics?