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​Adaptive Survival Styles

Five Adaptions to Developmental Trauma
BY: T. Franklin Murphy | November 1,  2022 (modified January 25, 2023)

Definition and description of NARM's five adaptive survival styles to developmental trauma


In childhood, we are given the environments. We have no choice. We come to this world a victim of circumstances. Some are born as princes and princesses, other into poverty. Whether from royalty or part of the a hard  working proletariat class, parents skills, resources, and stability varies. Sadly, most children experience conditions that are less than ideal for growth.

Our human experience is marred by these early encounters. We learn to adapt, drawing from the significant figures in our lives. When abuse, physical or emotional, is severe, we implement protective strategies to survive. Ongoing, pervasive childhood trauma is referred to as complex trauma in psychology.

​In Nero Affective Relational Model (NARM), Dr. Lawrence Heller identifies five survival adaptive styles that assist a child in early life to manage and survive a toxic home environment. While these styles are adaptive for survival in toxic environments, the strategies become embedded in the child's personality, interfering with future adult relationships

The toxic environment and our survival style are internalized. We create "mental representations... through repeated exposure." T. Franklin Murphy explains that "these representations become the models we use when interpreting new experiences" (2022).

Heller explains, "as we become adults, these same survival strategies become the cause of ongoing nervous system dysregulation, dissociation, and self-esteem difficulties" (2012, Kindle location 363). 
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​References:

​Heller, Lawrence; LaPierre, Aline (2012). Healing Developmental Trauma: How Early Trauma Affects Self-Regulation, Self-Image, and the Capacity for Relationship. North Atlantic Books; 1st edition

Horney, Karen (1950/1991) Neurosis and Human Growth: The Struggle Towards Self-Realization. W. W. Norton & Company; 2nd edition.

Murphy, T. Franklin (2022). Internal Working Models. Flourishing Life Society. Published 8-16-2022. Accessed 10-27-2022.