ABSTRACT
This chapter examines sources of trauma in children, and the influence of trauma in early childhood on a child's mental health and development throughout the lifecycle. Sources of trauma in childhood are varied, and can be from experiencing some personal negative emotional and physical effects, to witnessing an unusual or a violent event. Trauma can also result from experiencing a stressful situation related to self or a family member over a period of time. The terms emotional and psychological abuse are used interchangeably, and there is no agreed upon definitional distinction between them. It is, understood that all forms of maltreatment, whether physical, sexual, or emotional, have an inherent embedded emotional and psychological component. There are three research perspectives representing the outcome of adverse childhood experiences on later mental health development of the child such as Neurobiological perspective, Developmental psychopathology perspective, Life course perspective. The child may have specific behavioral or even physiological reactions to the reminders of the events.
