Healing Developmental Trauma - Laurence Heller

Healing Developmental Trauma - Laurence Heller and Aline LaPierre

The influence of early childhood trauma on self-regulation, self-image, and relationship capacity

Although people appear to suffer from countless emotional problems, most of these, according to Laurence Heller and Aline LaPierre, can be traced back to:

five basic biological principles:

• the need for connection,
• tuning,
• to trust,
• autonomy,
• and love and sexuality.

They describe how, in response to early childhood trauma and the inadequate fulfillment of these needs in childhood, we develop survival strategies that distort our present experiences and lead to fragmentation and alienation. Our capacity for connection with ourselves and others is damaged, and the resulting diminished vitality and aliveness is the hidden dimension underlying most psychological and many physical problems.

Heller and LaPierre introduce the NeuroAffective Relational Model™ (NARM) , which combines a nontraditional approach to psychodynamic and body psychotherapy with identity work. They integrate bottom-up and top-down approaches to regulate the nervous system and resolve identity disturbances such as low self-esteem , shame, and chronic self-judgment resulting from relational and developmental trauma. NARM emphasizes present-moment work, focusing on harnessing one’s own strengths, resources, and capacity for healing—while not ignoring the past—to integrate the experience of connection that supports physical and psychological well-being and the ability to form and maintain relationships.

Within all of us is a spontaneous movement toward connection, health, and vibrancy. Regardless of how withdrawn and isolated we have become or how severe the trauma we have endured, at the deepest level, just as a plant spontaneously moves toward sunlight, there is within all of us an impulse to move toward connection and healing. This organic impulse is the fuel for the NARM approach.

Laurence Heller
Laurence Heller, PhD, was involved in founding the Gestalt Institute in Denver, has served on the faculty of several major universities, and is one of the most senior staff members of the Somatic Experiencing® Training Institute. He teaches NARM and Somatic Experiencing® programs throughout Europe and the United States.

Aline LaPierre
Aline LaPierre, PsyD, is the founder and director of The NeuroAffective Touch® Institute. After serving for ten years as a faculty member in the Somatic Psychology doctoral program at the Santa Barbara Graduate Institute, she is now an associate editor of the International Body Psychotherapy Journal and a vice president of the United States Association for Body Psychotherapy. She is a clinical psychologist, author, artist, and lecturer, and maintains a private practice in Los Angeles.

Dutch | Paperback | 9789463160506 | 352 pages