Trauma occurs when any difficult experience is not approached in a supportive sometimes therapeutic way.
Trauma in children can fester and create a myriad of challenging personality and behavioral issues. A child often internalizes the incident by not talking about, deflecting discussion by saying things, like, "I'm fine, it's not that big a deal." These are usually statements made because the child, or teen, simply doesn't want to face the memory as it is too painful.
Children or teens who suffer from trauma, exhibit it a way that is very specific and lasting if not dealt with early. These young people can be clingy, or avoidant, pushing their loved ones away. Some self sabotage, exhibited by way of expressing behaviors that are obviously only going to hurt themselves in the end. They also make self deprecating statements, such as, "I'm not good at anything", or "I'm so ugly." Some will put down others, have difficulty trusting themselves and others. One of the more unidentified affects of a trauma in children is the impact the trauma has on the identity.
When a child experiences the trauma their personal internal views can become skewed and their reality can shift, leaving them no longer knowing what is real and what is not. The list of side affects is long and complicated sometimes it is hard to identify. If a negative behavior persists in a child after a bad experience, violent crime, a bad car accident or an assault, it is best to get the person into counselling.
A child may go into therapy in an effort to find the supports they need but the therapy is not quite adequate. In this case more damage than good can be done. It is vitally important after trauma induced experience, the child or teen or even adult, find the therapist with the skills necessary to help process the experience. Trauma informed therapists are becoming more and more common, as the understanding for the long term affects after a trauma induced experience has far reaching ramifications.
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