Ethical Decision Making from a Trauma-Informed, Developmental Lens: Attachment and Developmental Considerations

Understanding the role of attachment and human development in trauma survivors’ experience and healing process is critical to helping professionals’ ability to conceptualize client care. This chapter explores the various attachment styles and their intersection with trauma and adversity, including race-based trauma and heterosexism. Key concepts and definitions (e.g., secure, anxious, dismissive, avoidant), developmental theories, and how clients may regress to certain developmental stages will be explored through a trauma-informed lens. What the helping professional codes of ethics say about the ethical decision-making process across the lifespan, with specific emphasis on attachment and developmental considerations, will also be discussed. The final portion of this chapter proposes a process for clinicians enacting a trauma-informed decision-making model, considering the various triggers, attachment styles, and developmental regressions that often present for clients who have experienced trauma. A case example of a client with a trauma-based attachment wound is provided, along with examples of how practitioners can use a trauma-informed decision-making model.