The Neurosequential Approach; applying principles of neurodevelopment to clinical work with traumatized children
Roland Verdouw
TeamNEXT
Dr. Verdouw is a child and adolescent psychiatrist working and living in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Dr. Verdouw received his medical degree from the University of Amsterdam in 2006, his training and post-graduate work having focused heavily on child maltreatment and its long-term effects. Dr. Verdouw completed a residency in general psychiatry at GGZ InGeest and a fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at de Bascule, Academic Center for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Amsterdam. Since 2013 he is a Fancourt Scholar for the ChildTrauma Academy and currently doing his Mentor phase certification. Since 2016 he works in a team implementing the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT) in an outpatient setting. He also teaches about the Neurosequential Model principles and has given several lectures at national and international conferences about this new approach for clinical problem solving. Together with clinicians in Europe he is creating a network to build a working community to share experiences and opportunities to learn from each other.
Abstract
Human brain development unfolds through a complex interaction with genes and experiences but always in context of relationships. We are social - interdependent - creatures. From the day we are born our survival, procreation... [ view full abstract ]
Human brain development unfolds through a complex interaction with genes and experiences but always in context of relationships. We are social - interdependent - creatures. From the day we are born our survival, procreation and protecting our offspring depends on it.
The universal principles of brain development can be used to understand how these experiences mold a child’s brain and what is needed to help children grow into loving, emphatic and healthy adults. Secondly they can also be used to look back into a child's history and - as an archeologist - understand how the past has influenced the current behavioral landscape.
The brain is a historical organ that makes an internal representation of the external world. It is shaped and build by experiences - good and bad. D.W. Winnicot said that, fundamentally, two things can go wrong in childhood; one is when things happen that shouldn't happen and then things that should happen but don't. Most children show "normal" reactions, to "abnormal" situations. Their behavior is a result of their experiences - language as the most obvious one but true for all our skills and practices.
A model is a heuristic to better understand the complexity of the world around us. With our conventional medical model (DSM-5) it is difficult to capture this complexity and it disregards the developmental and neurobiological perspective on behavior. Our current knowledge of brain development and the clinical implications makes it our obligation to see if other models can help better understand these traumatized children with complex behavior.
The Neurosequential Model – developed by dr. B.D. Perry and his team from the ChildTrauma Academy – has a more developmentally informed, biologically respectful approach to clinical work. It is therefore a useful alternative model to complement and restructure therapeutic interventions in working with traumatized children.
Authors
-
Roland Verdouw
(TeamNEXT)
Topic Area
Other
Session
Oral 27 » Session 3-Emerging Issues (16:15 - Tuesday, 3rd October, Central America Room)
Presentation Files
The presenter has not uploaded any presentation files.
