Everyone experiences traumas throughout life. In a general sense, trauma results when you experience excessive stress that overwhelms your mind and body's ability to cope. Emotional wounds from an event can pervade one's sense of self, safety, and feelings of control. Psychological trauma can last for many years if left untreated, and can create devastating effects in one's life. 

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Traumatic experiences can produce emotional, cognitive, and physical repercussions. Emotionally, trauma survivors can become anxious, depressed, fearful, and withdrawn. Sometimes, survivors experience concentration problems or distractibility.  In some cases, those who have experienced a trauma can have flashbacks of the event, nightmares, amnesia, and intense feelings of shame. Survivors often experience sleeping and eating problems. Exhaustion can cause chronic emotional and physical pain. These symptoms are normal reactions to an abnormal situation.

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Trauma can affect anyone at any age. The effects can be mild or severe. Trauma can also manifest years after the event, so in reality, recognizing the trauma can be difficult. Oftentimes the trauma is viewed as "normal", and survivors have a difficult time recognizing the significance of their experience. Sometimes people feel weak or inadequate for needing help. Everyone reacts differently to trauma, and there is no guideline as to what someone may feel. What is known is that the courageous act of seeking help can provide relief, restoration, and healing that is felt in the survivor, in their family, and in generations to come.