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Trauma is the experience of an overwhelming event that interrupts normal behavior. Children can be traumatized in many ways: sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse or neglect. Children can also be traumatized by significant losses (death or separation), accidents, injuries, house fires or by witnessing violence.
Children react to trauma in different ways. Some children will become quiet and withdraw; others will become nervous, clingy, irritable or depressed. Still, others will become angry, rebellious or difficult to manage. Some will experience nightmares and other sleep problems. Some will have difficulty paying attention and their grades or behavior in school may become a problem. Not all children will show these symptoms right away. Some will not show symptoms until much later.
Getting help is important because children in counseling are less likely to have ongoing problems with trust, anger, fear, worry, self esteem, depression and sadness. All of these difficulties can lead to ongoing unhappiness and problems in interpersonal relationships. If left untreated, this pattern of victimization (the child being hurt again or hurting others) can continue into adulthood.
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