It is believed that everything that children under 2-3 years old experience is forgotten over time. This process is called infant amnesia, which erases both positive and negative memories, but the baby’s first impressions and sensations still leave an imprint on the psyche. These are so-called pre-verbal psychotraumas received in early childhood, when the baby still did not understand anything and was not aware of himself as an individual. Preverbal means before the period of the appearance of verbal speech in the child. Stages of the preverbal period. The preverbal period is the time from the beginning of the child’s conception until he reaches the age of one and a half years. It is at 1.5 years that the baby begins to identify himself as a separate person and get to know himself. In psychology, two main stages are distinguished: from conception to the newborn being three months old - the development of the child in the womb, birth and adaptation to the environment as a need for safety, the right to existence, satisfaction of basic needs; from three months to one and a half years - the need to express emotions and feel, express oneself and satisfy one’s needs. At the first stage of development, the baby is completely dependent on the mother. For him, she is a guide to a new world, through which the child receives everything he needs: new sensations, a sense of security, emotions, warmth, care, food. Formation of trauma. By the way his mother takes care of him, the baby understands how welcome he is in this world, how safe, interesting, and cozy it is here. The age from conception to 3 months is the period when a newborn becomes aware of simple imprints: “desired/unwanted”, “safe/dangerous”, “warmth/indifference”. In a negative scenario, a failure occurs in development, which leads to a splitting of the character structure according to the schizoid type - anxiety, which is formed on the basis of external threats to the existence of the fetus in the womb or a newborn baby (for example, when a woman wants to have an abortion). Under the influence of fear, the child’s consciousness represses everything that may threaten him. In an adult, this type of psychotrauma manifests itself in a constant thought process, without which he feels apathy, devastation, horror. Such people live with a feeling of uselessness, unlove, loneliness, and in society they feel danger and anxiety and at the same time an inexplicable need to constantly contact people. Loneliness and removal from society causes horror, so the slightest hint of increasing distance entails an emotional explosion, pain, anxiety. Causes and consequences of preverbal traumas The consequences of preverbal psychotraumas in adults are:▪️increased level of anxiety;▪️lack of a sense of security;▪️feeling of uselessness, unloving ;▪️loss of contact with reality;▪️switching off emotions, feelings, sensations;▪️state of “I am not here.” The causes of preverbal trauma in infants can be: * the desire of a woman (or the baby’s father, close relatives) to have an abortion; * stress, depression in the mother ;* mother’s abandonment of the child in the first days after childbirth;* unemotional (cold) mother;* mother’s unstable psyche;* emotional abuse of the baby;* transfer of the child to grandparents for upbringing (under the age of 3);* sending the child to kindergarten at an early age (up to 3 years). Negative events, stress, and experiences can deepen preverbal psychotrauma and aggravate its impact on the psyche. If you have identified this trauma in yourself, then the help of a psychologist will help you. Good luck in working on yourself!