February 21, 2025

Snika Gupta

12th Grade

Brooklyn Technical High School 

Our life experiences shape our behavior; some people experience more than others. Trauma is a lasting emotional response to an experience or event a person experiences. Events such as accidents, natural disasters, abuse, neglect, death, crime, and war can all be traumatic. However, trauma affects each person in a different way; what deeply impacts one person may have a lesser effect on another. Trauma can alter a person's sense of self and disrupt their emotional regulation. In extreme cases, trauma can manifest as PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder.

PTSD can make it difficult for a person to carry out daily tasks they once managed with ease before the traumatic event. A single traumatic incident can lead to simple PTSD, often triggered by events such as violence, assault, injury, or a crash. Past traumas, like the death of a loved one, an accident, a natural disaster, or abuse, can also contribute to PTSD. Initially, trauma may manifest as shock and denial, but over time, it can impact emotions, relationships, and even cause physical symptoms like headaches and nausea. Long-term and chronic trauma can lead to complex PTSD. This can result from prolonged experiences such as childhood neglect, domestic abuse, sexual, verbal, or physical abuse, a poor living environment, or war. Chronic PTSD often leads to issues with personal trust in relationships and trouble with human connection. 

Trauma significantly affects the brain and its development. Both trauma and PTSD are stress responses to distressing events, triggering the body’s fight-or-flight response during and after the experience. These responses affect key brain regions, including the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. The amygdala processes fear and detects danger, the hippocampus plays a role in learning and memory, and the prefrontal cortex regulates risk assessment and working memory. Traumatic stress causes changes to these areas due to increased levels of chemicals like cortisol and norepinephrine. Chronic stress leads to lasting effects as stress-related hormones continue to circulate, preventing the body from fully returning to a relaxed state. Over time, stressed cells replicate, perpetuating the impact of trauma on the body. 

The age at which a person experiences trauma plays a significant role in how it affects their life. The effects of trauma can vary depending on age and the societal context at the time. The brain is most vulnerable to trauma during early developmental stages, leading to more profound effects on functioning compared to those who experience trauma later in life. This holds true whether the trauma is a singular event, multiple events, or chronic. Trauma at a young age is closely linked to developmental processes like emotional regulation, attachment, and the formation of autobiographical memory. These processes are crucial to a child's sense of self and can negatively influence their self-image. 

In adolescence, the brain develops a life story and an adult identity. Traumatic experiences during adolescence often become central to an individual's sense of self. As this trauma is a larger part of their “life story,” the trauma then becomes a strong precursor for post-traumatic outcomes such as PTSD and depression. During this time, the brain also undergoes an increase in white matter and a decrease in gray matter.

Young adulthood is a crucial time for identity formation and the representation of a life path. Trauma experienced during this period is often more easily remembered than trauma from any other time. Due to a more developed memory, this trauma can shape their identity. However, because this is also a time of societal growth, life achievements earned during this period can serve as a buffer against emotional stress.

Later in life, the brain focuses primarily on the decrease of gray matter in the frontal cortex. In midlife, changes during this period help with physiological adaptation after trauma exposure, reducing the risk of PTSD. Increased prevalence of social support during this time can also reduce many traumatic symptoms. In adults, however, the risk of developing more symptoms is extremely high. Many negative events, such as unexpected death and reduced social support, occur during this time. Combined with trauma, these factors increase the risk of PTSD.

Trauma's effect on an adult depends on their childhood experiences, how they were raised, and the support they receive. However, trauma increases the risk of mental illness, addiction, and other conditions. It can also affect their physiology by causing compromised immunity, poor cardiovascular health, increased risk of autoimmune disorders, and chronic disorders. Early developmental trauma affects your stress (fight-or-flight) response. Signs of unresolved childhood trauma can induce substance misuse, dependency, stress, anxiety, mood, and personality disorders, behavioral issues or emotional immaturity, and the inability to deal with confrontation or conflicts. Trauma can also be passed down from adults who have dealt with it. This is known as intergenerational trauma. Intergenerational trauma is emotional and psychological trauma that affects a family for successive generations. The stress can create hormonal changes that are passed down from generation to generation. This helps explain why generations are impacted by famines and wars. Through family and community, this trauma can be transmitted in both complex and subtle ways.