Psychotherapeutic Treatment for Adults with Childhood Trauma and Chronic Disease

Abstract

The confluence of childhood trauma and comorbid chronic disease in the United States places a significant burden on the healthcare system and on individual quality of life. Considerable advances in the field of psychoneurobiology demonstrate the interrelatedness of chronic early life stress and adult chronic diseases yet there is little research demonstrating consistent efficacy of current psychotherapy treatment methods for adult victims of childhood trauma and comorbid chronic disease. This qualitative study aimed to propose a conceptual framework for psychotherapy that integrates physiological and psychological consequences of childhood trauma over the lifespan, by exploring the efficacy of current psychotherapeutic treatment modalities for the target population, the psychoneurobiology of childhood trauma and chronic diseases, and application of the findings to a new psychotherapeutic approach incorporating the interrelatedness of physiology and psychology to address the underlying impairments of chronic disease. Findings highlighted a significant treatment gap for the target population. This includes challenges in identification, diagnosis, complex symptomology, disparate populations and research methods, and deficits in training of medical and psychological practitioners. Findings demonstrated efficacy of psychoneurological interventions such as eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, and mind-body approaches. It is hoped that these findings may contribute to a new approach to psychotherapeutic framework for treatment of adult victims of childhood trauma and comorbid chronic diseases.