Healing Developmental Trauma: How Early Trauma Affects Self-Regulation, Self-Image, and the Capacity for Relationship

by Laurence Heller

It is a key NARM concept to support healthy ways of regulating the nervous system by emphasizing connection to the parts of self that are organized, coherent, and functional.

They function by using dissociation to disconnect from the distress in their body. As a result, the child and later the adult are left with systemic dysregulation and a narrowed range of resiliency that leaves them vulnerable to later traumas.

Shifting clients’ attention to positive resources as opposed to having their consciousness trapped in distress states teaches self-soothing and brings more organization to the nervous system.