Beyond Violence: Subtle Trauma, Emotional Neglect, and the Reframing of Trauma, Attachment, Anxiety and Addiction in Elizabeth Vargas’s Between Breaths
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1607.13Keywords:
“small t’’ trauma, childhood emotional neglect, attachment theory, memoir, psychology and literatureAbstract
Trauma is most commonly associated with catastrophic events such as natural disasters, warfare, domestic violence, or the death of a loved one. However, it is also possible for the greatest wounds to be created silently through omission rather than commission. Some of the greatest traumas are shaped by what didn’t happen in childhood, including the absence of emotional connections, comfort, or responsive caregiving (such as never being included in family discussions, never being positively acknowledged by a parent, or having your emotional needs consistently ignored). The absence creates an invisible structure of injury that affects how children develop trust, form attachments, and understand their environment. This study explores “Small T’’ trauma, which refers to the emotional damage resulting from chronic emotional neglect (as opposed to outright physical harm). While there have been many advances in the area of trauma research in the past few years, the long-term impact of subtle emotional neglect upon narrative identity and adult function remains understudied. Using the foundation provided by John Bowlby's attachment theory and integrating Gabor Maté’s trauma-informed model of addiction and Bessel van der Kolk’s neurobiological perspective of trauma, this research provides evidence of the relationship between early emotional deprivation and adult anxiety, fragile relationships, and addiction. Using an analysis of Elizabeth Vargas’s memoir Between Breaths (2016), this study demonstrates that nonresponsive and unpredictable caregiving can create enduring consequences comparable to violent experiences.
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