Trauma exposure, whether experienced as a child or an adult, has the ability to create a lasting impact on someone’s life just by the way the situation was handled or the events leading up to the trauma. Trauma can cause long-lasting psychological effects, such as anxiety and PTSD. If the trauma had caused a physical malformation, it may be more difficult to move forward in life. Spiritually, individuals may believe that they deserved the trauma, that their higher power had intended it for them. Victims of environmental traumas such as hurricanes or tornados may fear specific regions that are more likely to experience those weather events. Overall, traumas can impact our ability to form relationships, or to even maintain them. Some may fear leaving their home and some are not allowed to leave, especially in instances of domestic violence. The inability to develop new relationships or maintain current ones can lead to isolation which is neither healthy for the body or mind.

An adverse childhood experience is a traumatic or negative event that specifically happens to individuals as young as a newborn to seventeen years of age. Long term impacts of adverse childhood experiences immediately predispose adolescents to the risk of substance use problems, mental illness and chronic health conditions. As well as the potential for the adolescent to continue the trauma they experienced into adulthood. 

As a future nurse, it is important to remember that every patient, whether a victim of trauma or not, deserves respect. One of the first things a nurse should do, and perhaps the most important things to do, is to establish trust and rapport with the patient and family members, if applicable. As a nurse, I will have to investigate the impact of trauma on my patient while maintaining respect and establishing boundaries. I must also be aware that it’s okay to ask direct questions about trauma, as it is unlikely that those questions will send them reeling back into the trauma.