Stress is normal. It helps us rise to meet the challenges of the day, and it’s balanced out by things like relaxation and socialization. This is what helps us manage life’s complications on a day-to-day basis.

But sometimes our stress response overwhelms our ability to cope. This is called trauma. Trauma isn’t always caused by an accident or injury – it can also be emotional. Trauma can result from exposure to violence, or from disruptive events like the loss of a family member. Or, it can be caused by a series of small events, such as abuse, that happen over a period of time.

A common response to trauma is to think there’s something wrong with you. But trauma is simply the result of a natural process. When an event pushes us out of our normal zone of resilience, our nervous system gets thrown off balance. Sometimes, life throws us so far off balance that it’s hard to recover on our own, and we need some help to feel like ourselves again.