Identifying and healing childhood trauma

As children and adolescents grow up, they continually learn about different types of problems. However, terrible things sometimes happen within and outside the family. They can happen suddenly without warning. Children may experience different types of traumas during their stages of development. Some traumas, such as child abuse or witnessing domestic violence, may happen repeatedly over a long period of time. Dangers can become "traumatic" when they threaten serious injury or death. In traumatic situations, we experience immediate threat to ourselves or to others, often followed by serious injury or harm. These powerful, distressing emotions go along with strong, even frightening physical reactions. Experiencing a prior traumatic event does not toughen up a child. Instead, the effects can add up, with each successive experience leading to more severe and chronic posttraumatic stress reactions and other developmental consequences. In fact, a child who has suffered from prior traumatic experiences may be apt to have more intense reactions to another trauma. Experiencing any type of trauma will inevitably leave a lasting impact on a person’s life. When children experience a traumatic event, it can impact various stages of their development. Because of their young age and lack of life experience, children often do not possess the appropriate coping skills needed to deal with trauma in a healthy way. For this reason, receiving treatment can be extremely beneficial in helping youth overcome the symptoms that may arise as a result of traumatic experiences. The present paper deals with identifying and healing childhood trauma.