Trauma is an intense emotional response to a disturbing experience that impacts or threatens your mental health, physical wellbeing or life. The initial response may include shock and denial, with longer-term reactions such as flashbacks, unpredictable emotions or physical symptoms.

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Our ability to recover from severe threat is grounded in our early attachment relationships and how we learnt to manage stress as babies and children.

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If the caregiving environment is 'good enough', a child learns that although difficult things happen, they can move through them with the support of their caregivers. However, if this attachment has been interrupted, it can be much harder to move through the stress response, making it difficult to recognise that the threat has now passed.

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A person may not have learnt how to regulate their stress responses or developed an internal sense of safety. When someone experiences severe, repetitive or ongoing threat, they may develop symptoms such as:

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• Dissociation (disconnection from emotions)

• Somatisation (unexplained physical symptoms)

• Negative self-beliefs, such as "It is my fault" or "I am bad"

• Shame responses

• Self-harm