Childhood Trauma

A traumatic event is a frightening, dangerous, or violent event that poses a threat to a child’s life or bodily integrity. Witnessing a traumatic event that threatens life or physical security of a loved one can also be traumatic. This is particularly important for young children as their sense of safety depends on the perceived safety of their attachment figures.

Traumatic experiences can initiate strong emotions and physical reactions that can persist long after the event. Children may feel terror, helplessness, or fear, as well as physiological reactions such as heart pounding, vomiting, or loss of bowel or bladder control. Children who experience an inability to protect themselves or who lacked protection from others to avoid the consequences of the traumatic experience may also feel overwhelmed by the intensity of physical and emotional responses.

Even though adults work hard to keep children safe, dangerous events still happen. This danger can come from outside of the family (such as a natural disaster, car accident, school shooting, or community violence) or from within the family, such as domestic violence, physical or sexual abuse, or the unexpected death of a loved one.

• Physical, sexual, or psychological abuse and neglect (including trafficking)

• Natural and technological disasters or terrorism

• Family or community violence

• Sudden or violent loss of a loved one

• Substance use disorder (personal or familial)

• Refugee and war experiences (including torture)

• Serious accidents or life-threatening illness

• Military family-related stressors (e.g., deployment, parental loss or injury)

When children have been in situations where they feared for their lives, believed that they would be injured, witnessed violence, or tragically lost a loved one, they may show signs of child traumatic stress.

• Intense and ongoing emotional upset

• Depressive symptoms or anxiety

• Behavioral changes

• Difficulties with self-regulation

• Problems relating to others for forming attachments

• Regression or loss of previously acquired skills

• Attention and academic difficulties

• Nightmares

• Difficulty sleeping and eating

• Body aches and pains

• Older chidren:

  • Use drugs or alcohol

  • Engage in unhealthy sexual activity

  • Engage in risky behaviors

Although many of us may experience reactions to stress from time to time, when a child is experiencing traumatic stress, these reactions interfere with the child’s daily life and ability to function and interact with others. At no age are children immune to the effects of traumatic experiences. Even infants and toddlers can experience traumatic stress. The way that traumatic stress manifests will vary from child to child and will depend on the child’s age and developmental level.

Without treatment, repeated childhood exposure to traumatic events can affect the brain and nervous system and increase health-risk behaviors (e.g., smoking, eating disorders, substance use, and high-risk activities). Research shows that child trauma survivors can be more likely to have long-term health problems (e.g., diabetes and heart disease) or to die at an earlier age. Traumatic stress can also lead to increased use of health and mental health services and increased involvement with the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Adult survivors of traumatic events may also have difficulty in establishing fulfilling relationships and maintaining employment.

Traumatic experiences can result in changes to children’s lives that can be challenging. The changes can include: where the live, where they attend school, who they’re living with, and their daily routines.

Children can be triggered by reminders that are linked to aspects of their traumatic experience. These reminders can be a person, place, thing, situation, anniversary, or feelings. Sometimes, physical reactions can also trigger the traumatic experience, such as an increased heart rate or bodily sensations.

Identifying children’s responses to trauma and loss reminders is an important tool for understanding how and why children’s distress, behavior, and functioning often fluctuate over time. Trauma and loss reminders can reverberate within families, among friends, in schools, and across communities in ways that can powerfully influence the ability of children, families, and communities to recover. Addressing trauma and loss reminders is critical to enhancing ongoing adjustment.

Fortunately, even when children experience a traumatic event, they don’t always develop traumatic stress. Many factors contribute to symptoms, including whether the child has experienced trauma in the past, and protective factors at the child, family, and community levels can reduce the adverse impact of trauma. Some factors to consider include:

• Severity of the event. How serious was the event? How badly was the child or someone she loves physically hurt? Did they or someone they love need to go to the hospital? Were the police involved? Were children separated from their caregivers? Were they interviewed by a principal, police officer, or counselor? Did a friend or family member die?

• Proximity to the event. Was the child actually at the place where the event occurred? Did they see the event happen to someone else or were they a victim? Did the child watch the event on television? Did they hear a loved one talk about what happened?

• Caregivers’ reactions. Did the child’s family believe that he or she was telling the truth? Did caregivers take the child’s reactions seriously? How did caregivers respond to the child’s needs, and how did they cope with the event themselves?

• Prior history of trauma. Children continually exposed to traumatic events are more likely to develop traumatic stress reactions.

• Family and community factors. The culture, race, and ethnicity of children, their families, and their communities can be a protective factor, meaning that children and families have qualities and or resources that help buffer against the harmful effects of traumatic experiences and their aftermath. One of these protective factors can be the child’s cultural identity. Culture often has a positive impact on how children, their families, and their communities respond, recover, and heal from a traumatic experience. However, experiences of racism and discrimination can increase a child’s risk for traumatic stress symptoms.

Helping Children with Traumatic Separation or Traumatic Grief Related to COVID-19: [CLICK HERE]

Supporting Students Experiencing Childhood Trauma: Tips for Parents and Educators: [CLICK HERE]

CDC Injury Center – Color Me Safe coloring book: [CLICK HERE]

Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect Fact Sheet: [CLICK HERE]

Child Welfare Information Gateway: [CLICK HERE]

Parent and Family Resources: [CLICK HERE]

COVID19 K-12 Counseling [CLICK HERE]

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN): [CLICK HERE]
NCTSN was created by Congress in 2000 as part of the Children’s Health Act. Since then, it’s grown to 86 currently funded centers and over 150 Affiliate (formerly funded) centers. The website offers indepth information about childhood trauma, treatments and practices, trauma-informed care, and Spanish-language materials.

Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress: [CLICK HERE]
The Center’s work addresses a wide scope of trauma exposure from the consequences of combat, operations other than war, terrorism, natural and human-made disasters, and public health threats. CSTS is a part of the nation’s federal medical school, Uniformed Services University (USU), and its Department of Psychiatry.

Looking Through Their Eyes: [CLICK HERE]
This website of the Illinois Childhood Trauma Coalition takes on the question of “What is childhood trauma?” and provides parent-friendly basic information about why trauma happens, how parents can identify it in their own children of various ages, and how to “look through their eyes.” There are also sections on bullying, community violence, and young children–as well as a section called Video Stories for Children, where the target audience is infants and children under age of 6, and their parents, caregivers, and service providers.

Video Stories: [CLICK HERE]

• Trauma Aware Schools webpage

• Child Trauma Academy: Interventions

• Reducing the negative impact of ACEs and helping with trauma-sensitive resources

• Parent Handouts: Understanding ACEs, Parenting to Prevent and Healing (Multiple languages available!)

• ACEs Connection offers many resources specific to types of trauma

• Free child trauma toolkit from Trauma Informed Positive Behavior Support

• Download from SAMHSA “Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma Informed Approach”

• The National Child Traumatic Stress Network