We can all agree that traumatic events are horrible. It upsets, scares, and disrupts those that have affiliation with the event. Stress is a common experience and involves feeling very tense or high levels of pressure. For some, major stress can lead to feeling overwhelmed and unable to cope.

Of the people in our population, about half of them regardless of gender, will live through at least one traumatic event in their life. People of all ages and genders will react to those events differently. Often strong emotions will accompany these events, ranging from fear, sadness, guilt, and shame. For some people, problems can last for days, months, or even years. Close to 30% of the people that survive a traumatic event will show psychiatric symptoms.

Trauma and Stress disorders are all caused by events or circumstances that overwhelm, threaten, or cause injury to a person. Posttraumatic stress disorder and acute stress disorder are two disorders in the group and are caused by traumatic events that lead to distressing symptoms. One might also experience and adjustment disorder which is a disorder in response to an event. There are two disorders in the group that are strictly diagnosable for children who have experienced abuse or neglect, reactive attachment disorder and disinhibited social engagement disorder. These disorders have lifelong effects.