Delayed Posttraumatic stress disorders from infancy begins with what the infant experiences as a terrifying threat of separation from mother, which is more overwhelming to a baby than war trauma to a soldier, because, for as long as mammals populated the earth, separation from mother has meant death! Then instead of a loud noise precipitating the flashback, it is separation from some other “most important person” which precipitates the initial step-back-in-time, and instead of combat reality and behavior it is infant reality and behavior that we see. Onset usually occurs in adolescence, when a first intense romance fails. This precipitates the flashback to the precise moment in time of the original separation-from-mother trauma.
It is a partial return to the entire earlier gestalt, the earlier mind/brain/reality/feelings/behavior/chemistry/physiology/body movements/level of affective expression and anatomic sites in the brain that were active and developing at the precise time of the initial separation-from-mother trauma.
Usually the early trauma is not even recognized. Often it is the birth of a sibling, or travel to another country, or the working mother and daycare. It can be almost anything. The baby is very sensitive to what it experiences as a threat of separation
The mechanism is the same for all the disorders, from schizophrenia to non-psychotic depression. Only the age of origin differs, and the symptoms match the age-of-origin.
Schizoaffective disorder meets full criteria for delayed PTSD from 19 through 21 months. Is there non-pharmaceutical therapy that works? In fact, Dr. McKenzie has developed a treatment plan that has proven effective.
Treating these disorders and preventing a recurrence can be difficult because it requires something that seems counter intuitive, unnatural, and even unwise. Yet, without this approach, complete recovery or even a partial stabilization of the mental disorder might not be possible.
The problem is that after a shift to infant mind/brain/reality, any interaction with original, nuclear family is in a parent-to-infant relationship and keeps the person locked into the infant mind. But, with total separation – for a period of time – the whole process can simply disappear
Psychoses are just delayed Post Traumatic Stress Disorders from the first two years of life, and non- psychotic depressions are delayed PTSD from 24 through 34 months.
In a study of 27 people with one sibling less than 3 years younger, the 13 with psychoses had a sibling less than 2 years younger, and the 14 with non-psychotic depression had a sibling from 24 through 34 months younger. That’s one over two to the 27th power, or one chance in 134,217,728 by chance alone.
The Arab Journal of Psychiatry (2012) Vol. 23 No. 2
Schizophrenia has its origin in the first 18 months of life, schizoaffective disorder between 19 and 21 months, with more paranoia at 19 months and more depression at 21 months.
Bipolar peaks at 22 months, and the remainder of depression with psychotic features extends up to 24 months.