A teenager recently told me she experienced "trauma" because a friend gave her a dirty look. I’ve heard other young people use the word "trauma" to describe not being invited to a party or a parent yelling at them for playing hooky or being asked to redo a school assignment. A demanding boss, a bad date, a discontinued Starbucks drink, getting caught in the rain, a Soul Cycle teacher switching studios—I’ve heard it all described as "trauma."

As a mom, I talk to a lot of young people: middle schoolers, teens, and 20-somethings. As a psychotherapist, I also speak with a lot of adults. These conversations make it clear to me that the term “trauma” has entered the cultural conversation and made its way into everyday speech. It’s now part of our mindset, a way of describing and thinking about our lives. The frequency and casualness with which we now claim to have experienced "trauma" is disturbing.

According to the American Psychological Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5), trauma is defined as........

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