PTSD and Trauma

Trauma is the experience of psychological and emotional distress following an overwhelming or life-threatening event. It is a unique combination of an external experience and an internal responses. While trauma is a fact of life, not everyone will experience a traumatic response when exposed to the same event. The likelihood of experiencing a traumatic response to a particular event varies widely among individuals and is influenced by a multitude of factors including, early life attachment experiences, support systems, genetic factors, individual resilience and neurological differences.  

Trauma can cause neurological changes in the brain and change a child or young person’s response to stress long term. Trauma is often described as a brain and body disconnection. Even after a traumatic event has passed, a child’s brain and body can continue to respond as if the stress and trauma is continuing. They may present as hypervigilant, scanning an environment for constant threat and may be observed as in a continuous state of high or low arousal. The consequences to the child or young person can result in limited access to learning and memory recall and being mislabelled as defiant or challenging. For some children and young people it can impact their ability to form positive peer relationships.