What is Trauma?
Trauma consists of three basic components:
1. Threat to physical, emotional, and/or psychological safety
2. Loss of choice
3. Dysregulation of a person’s autonomic nervous system

Difficult life experiences such as neglect, loss, various forms of violence and victimization like sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, intimate partner violence, rape, or human trafficking, and/or the witnessing of these events or horrors like terrorism and natural disasters are all forms of trauma.

There are multiple types of trauma:
• Historical
• Intergenerational
• Chronic
• Cumulative
• Vicarious

Trauma refers to a survivors’ biological response to the difficult events that have occurred in their life. We have all experienced some form of trauma to one degree or another. Traumatic events become problematic when these responses remain active once the threat itself has passed and the attempt to cope creates problems like physical symptoms, mental health problems, unhealthy behaviors, and difficulties in social situations and interpersonal relationships.