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Trauma can occur at any age or stage of life.  It can be caused by others, intentionally or unintentionally.  It could be caused by yourself, intentionally or unintentionally.  The term "trauma" really refers to intense stress that alters your mind.  A person can experience many small trauma's in life or a large traumatic event.  Most people have experienced trauma in their lives but don't acknowledge it because it wasn't a big catastrophic event. A traumatic event can range from negativity and insecurity growing up, to  a break-up, divorce, losing a  loved one, losing finances, to experiencing a physical or sexual assault or being in an active combat situation.  Any experience that caused your brain to change negatively, considered as trauma.  Negative changes in the brain can effect the way you think, feel, and behave.  Negative thoughts and beliefs about yourself, other people, and the world, are highly influenced by micro and big traumas.

 When the traumatic event occurs, the stress of the event causes our neurons to shake and begin to join, creating what is called neuropathways.  If you think of our brain as a map, the neuropathways are the roads on the map.  These roads are built throughout our lifetime.  They can break apart and dissolve as well as new ones can be built, this is called neuroplasticity.  The map of our brains are developed with our repeated thoughts and beliefs.  The main highways of our brains dictate our perceptions, our emotions, and our behaviors.  Therefore, when a traumatic event occurs, new neuropathways begin to be built that contain the negative feelings and ideas associated with that event.  You may minimize or even forget about what exactly happened, but the negative feelings and beliefs remain with you.

In regards to larger, shocking, traumatic events, the first two to four weeks following the event is referred to as acute stress..  During this time, a person may still be in shock from the incident, having nightmares, reliving the event, feeling anxiety, dread, hopelessness, or helplessness.  The mind will attempt to resolve the experience during the four weeks after the event occurs.  Interventions during this time can be extremely helpful in processing the event so that the neuropathways do not fully develop.  If the mind cannot resolve what has occurred in around a months time, the symptoms of anxiety, nightmares, avoidance, depression, helplessness, or hopelessness, distraction, will continue.  These symptoms will not only effect a persons feelings but change their perception of the world and how they relate to it.  

Long-term symptoms that began with a traumatic event is called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, also known as PTSD.  Many people with PTSD live for years in emotional pain and it  will eventually effect every part of their life until they remove it and restore the mind.  Any trauma that changes the brain,  effects the way a person functions in all aspects of their life.  The effects of unaddressed trauma can last a life time and interfere with a persons ability to create healthy and positive connections with others, success with hobbies or work, and the overall quality of life.  Unaddressed trauma can also often drive a person to use addiction as a strategy to get relief.  Substance abuse, eating disorders, porn addiction, and any type of obsession used to avoid the trauma.  The effects of trauma create conscious and subconscious behaviors of avoidance, that shape a persons life.  For example, a person that experienced bullying, devaluing, or emotional/physical violence growing up, may put all of their focus and energy into work, and attempt to out-succeed the trauma.  By recognizing that they were hurt by others, they might use their avoidance of vulnerable connection, to motivate their focus on work. Even if they are highly successful with work, the other areas of life will suffer.  

In order to be truly successful and fulfilled in life, the effects of past trauma needs to be removed. There are multiple interventions that can be performed for shifting or removing the effects of trauma. I have found that  Bilateral Brain Stimulation, such as EMDR, is an extremely useful and effective tool to remove the negative effects of trauma.  I have worked with hundreds of clients suffering from trauma and the goal is to permanently shift the trauma so that the roads of neuropathways that were created from the trauma are disconnected.  Once the neuropathways are disconnected, the person is no longer ruled by their negative beliefs and their entire life opens up.  Transforming trauma changes a persons life for the better, every aspect of it.  We don't want to just survive trauma, we want to be able to move forward and thrive, without having to worry about it returning.