The effects on brain development caused by exposure to complex trauma in childhood have been associated with psychopathology maladaptive coping and heightened behavioral and health risk trajectories. The impact of complex trauma on development the impact of complex trauma on development describes what happens cognitively and emotionally behaviorally and relationally to people who are repeatedly traumatized in childhood part one brings together trauma theory with a number of theories of human development. The impact of complex trauma on development describes what happens cognitively and emotionally behaviorally and relationally to people who are repeatedly traumatized in childhood part one brings together trauma theory with a number of theories of human development it directly addresses and describes developmental pathology and its origins. The impact of complex trauma on development describes what happens cognitively and emotionally behaviorally and relationally to people who are repeatedly traumatized in childhood part one brings together trauma theory with a number of theories of human development it directly addresses and describes developmental pathology and its origins