Any experience that is life-threatening or causes deep emotional pain can create trauma, whether a single catastrophic event or a continuing situation that cannot be escaped. Traditional models of post-traumatic stress and its treatment were based on single-event traumas. We have come to understand that adverse childhood experiences like emotional neglect, living with a parent who has mental health or substance abuse problems, parentification (having to provide emotional or practical support to your parents, rather than receiving it from them), or verbal, psychological, physical, or sexual abuse constitute a more insidious form of harm called complex trauma.

Trauma causes real, measurable changes to our brain and nervous system, our experience of emotions, and the deep subconscious beliefs we hold about ourselves, other people, and the world. Trauma negatively impacts our relationships, sense of self-worth, ability to manage our feelings, sense of security, and our very experience of being alive. Healing requires attention to each aspect of the self—physical, emotional, cognitive, and relational.