Page 28When a person is experiencing a traumatic event, the whole of their energy is focused on self-preservation. The event itself mav be so intense that the individual may need to « step out of themselves » in order to psychologically cope with the level of danger and stress. As such, memory is often affected. In children under the age of four, developmental issues become predominant in the area of memory. At four and under, memory is not likely to be encoded verbally, but is encoded with wordless images and sensate material.
Memory damages in children regarding their traumatic events and the time surrounding these events often includes gaps, or « missing time » as weIl as difficulties in being able to sequence events accurately. Any child, let alone a traumatically stressed child, will sometimes confabulate parts of a memory sequence in order to avoid embarrassment, fill in the blank for their own comfort, or in efforts to satisfy a pressing adult. This difficulty in memory sequencing seems to bleed over into everyday life for sorne stressed children, and this leads to further complications when adults in their life begin to accuse them of lies and confabulations.
If a child was under the age of four when their abuse occurred, they willlikely not be able to relate much significant material in treatment. They will also not be able to articulate very weIl what they are experiencing in the stress episode, or the source of their stress. They of course have the memories, but these memories are largely sensory expenences.
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