A comprehensive review of the recent research on the effects of early and later life trauma.

Part I. Early Life Trauma, Impact of Health and Disease; Section 1. Childhood Trauma: Epidemiology and Historical Themes: 1. The history of early life trauma and abuse from the 1850s to the current time: how the past influences the present; 2. The epidemiology of early life trauma; 3. Historical themes in the study of recovered and false memories of trauma; 4. Early life trauma, later outcome: results from longitudinal studies and clinical observations; Synopsis; Section 2. The Effects of Life Trauma: Mental and Physical Health: 5. Attachment dysregulation as hidden trauma in infancy; 6. Towards a developmental trauma in infancy, early stress, maternal buffering, and psychiatric morbidity in young adulthood; 7. Complex adult sequelae of early life exposure to psychological trauma; 8. The relationship of adverse childhood experiences to adult health, well being, social function and health care; Synopsis; Part II. Biological Approaches to Early Life Trauma; Section 3. The Impact of Early Life Trauma: Psychobiological Sequelae in Children: 9. Translational studies of the effects of early life stress; 10. Lateral asymmetries in infants' regulatory and communicative gestures; 11. Neurobiology of childhood trauma and adversity; 12. Neurobiology of neglect; 13. Early life trauma as a risk factor for disease in adulthood; Synopsis; Section 4. The Impact of Childhood Trauma: Psychobiological Sequelae in Adults: 14. Early life stress and psychiatric risk/resilience: the importance of a developmental neurobiological model in understanding gene by environment interactions; 15. Neuroendocrine effects of early life trauma; 16. Long lasting effects of early life trauma on neurobiological circuits; 17. Biological framework for early life related traumatic dissociation; 18. The role of resilience in early life trauma; Synopsis; Part III. Clinical Perspectives, Assessment and Treatment of Trauma Spectrum Disorders; Section 5. Assessment on the Impact of Early Life Trauma: Clinical Science and Societal Effects: 19. Assessment of early- and mid-childhood trauma in adults; 20. Memory and trauma: examining disruptions in implicit, explicit and autobiographical memory; 21. Scientific progress and methodological issues in the study of recovered and false memories of trauma; 22. The psychosocial consequences of organized violence in children; Synopsis; Section 6. Strategies to Reduce Impact: 23. The role of mentalizing in treating attachment trauma; 24. Pragmatic approaches to stage oriented treatment for complex post traumatic stress and dissociative disorders; 25. Cognitive behavioral treatments; 26. Emotions and emotion regulation in the process of trauma recovery: implications for the treatment of post traumatic stress disorder; 27. Psychodynamic psychotherapy: adaptations for the treatment of patients with chronic complex PSTD; Synopsis; Epilogue; Index.