According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, trauma results from “an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being.”
The purpose of these guidelines is to provide psychologists with a scientifically supported framework for working with adults with trauma-related disorders. These guidelines consider how trauma, and its aftereffects, are compounded by other stressful factors and life events, including inequities related to race, ethnicity, sectarianism, gender, age, socioeconomic status, sexual identity, immigration, and disability.