New developmental theory challenges traditional views on childhood trauma memories

A new developmental theory from Carl Weems, Iowa State professor of human development and family studies, describes how our memory and perception of trauma can evolve over time, shifting with new experiences and as cognitive and emotional development take place, and challenges assumptions that trauma reporting is either true or false.

“This developmental perspective highlights that children’s recollections of traumatic events aren’t static,” says Weems, whose paper “Reporting, Forgetting, or Reimagining: A Developmental Theory of Traumatic and Adverse Childhood Memories” was published by Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review earlier this year. “In reality, they can shift with new experiences and as cognitive and emotional development take place.”

What does this mean when it comes to our understanding of youth reports of traumatic events and adverse experiences?

“We need to move beyond the traditional binary conclusion of ‘something happened or it didn’t,’” Weems says. “The perception of trauma exists on a continuum.”