Abstract: “There is a little voice inside my head”.“Invisible” attachment trauma and suicide in children, and healing strategies. A case study

D' hooghe, DD (Doris)
Traumacentre Belgium

Submission type

Oral and Poster

Scheduled

Poster, Beurs van Berlage , Grote Zaal

Kernwoorden

Attachment/parenting/suicide/anxiety//interventions

Onderzoeksgebied

Attachment

Doelgroep

mensen met veel ervaring met het onderwerp

Workshop

This case concerns a 6-year old girl with suicidal ideation. In this particular case, I considered the suicidal thoughts to be a symptom of “invisible” attachment trauma. Although suicide is recognized as a global public health problem, little is known about suicide in young children. There is recent research exploring the association between attachment security and suicidality in children. It is the quality of parenting that influences the attachment security and when this quality does not meet some specific requirements like e.g. psychobiological regulation, mentalization etc., “invisible” attachment trauma develops. Consequences of this “invisible” attachment trauma such as no affect regulation skills, anxiety etc., can lead to suicidal behavior that therefore can be seen as a kind of insecure attachment behavior. When there is an underlying threat of abandonment due to the unavailability of the caregiver and the child's ambivalence towards the parent, the child becomes trapped between autonomy and enmeshment, leading to suicidal disintegration. The psychobiological effect of “invisible” trauma has the potential to illuminate the pathway to future suicide. These findings support the efforts to develop attachment-based interventions such as attachment-based play, improving self-regulating skills, resource building, etc., as a novel route towards suicide prevention.