There is no standard definition of a traumatic experience for everyone and each person will be impacted by traumatic stress differently. Even though we experience traumatic stress differently, our bodies respond to traumatic stress in mostly predictable ways. These responses begin to change the way the brain works at the brain stem level (see this video on Deep Brain Reorienting or check out this website for more information) creating a cycle of overwhelm, anxiety, depression, and fear that greatly affect a person's sense of self and others, their relationships, and their quality of life long after the neglectful, abusive, or other overwhelming experiences have ended. Mental health and relationship problems are often a result of unhealed trauma wounding.

Symptoms of trauma wounding include: feeling numb, feeling spacey, lacking joy, few or no memories, black-and-white thinking, avoidance, frequent intense emotions, hypervigilance, mistrust, loneliness, insomnia, unexplained fatigue, rage, insecurity, unexplained physical pain, feeling sad a lot, feeling scared or nervous a lot, difficulty focusing or concentrating, feeling unmotivated, addiction, sleeping too much or too little, low energy, lots of conflict, addiction, difficulties holding down a job or participating in school, difficulty developing or maintaining close relationships, or repeating the same problem patterns over and over again. Anxiety, depression, borderline personality disorder, ADHD, and other mental health diagnoses are often caused by unresolved trauma.