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It's important to understand that not all painful experiences are traumatic.

The Ancient Greek root of the word "trauma" is "wound."

Children are more vulnerable to these deep, life-shaping wounds than adults.

Childhood trauma can persist into adulthood but can also be healed, in therapy.

This is a post about trauma, and especially the impact of traumatic stress on young, developing minds, brains and bodies. But we first need to explore what is meant by this over-used, often misunderstood word. We live in an age in which far too many everyday human experiences are pathologised. A quick glance at the social media platform of your choice will show you that people often use terms like "trauma," without really understanding what they mean.

As a psychotherapist specialising in complex trauma, I have spent a great deal of time thinking about this and exploring different definitions for this important term. I think it’s most helpful to trace the word trauma back to its Ancient Greek origins, when it was used to mean "wound."1 This originally described a physical wound, such as a broken leg or gashed palm, but was later applied by pioneering neurologists, such as Hermann Oppenheim and Jean-Martin Charcot, to psychological wounds as well.

I believe we should understand psychological trauma as something that causes a deep wound. Adverse life events such as a divorce or bankruptcy may be extremely painful, but if we are able to recover and move on with our lives, they are not traumatic. This is why millions of social-media posts, however well meaning, are describing experiences as traumatic which are, in fact, painful but normal bumps on the long road of a human life.

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