Any time a person experiences trauma, it impacts their life. For some, the effects may be temporary. For others, the aftermath may become ongoing and cause them to develop a trauma-based mental illness or even a substance use disorder. If you are concerned that your child may be dealing with a traumatic event, either in the past or ongoing, we can help you get answers. Take our childhood trauma quiz that helps you determine if it’s time to get professional treatment to help your loved one.
What is Childhood Trauma?
Trauma can affect a person at any time during their lives. When it happens to a child, the suffering can happen not only during their childhood but extend into adulthood if not treated. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reports that by the age of 16, more than two-thirds of children report having experienced at least one traumatic event.
Examples of childhood trauma include:
- Physical abuse
- Sexual abuse
- Emotional abuse
- Neglect
- Witnessing violence within the home or among other family members
- Death of a loved one
- Divorce in the family
- Serious injury or illness
- Being placed in foster care
- Natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquake, and floods
- Bullying
- School shootings
- Violence within their community
- Experiences during wartime or other military acts
Taking a childhood trauma quiz can provide answers to help a parent understand if their child needs treatment for a trauma-based illness.
Childhood Trauma Quiz
While not everyone experiences the same signs that they have experienced trauma, many of them are quite common. Take our childhood trauma quiz to help you understand if a trauma-based illness may be present in your child’s life. Answer yes or no to the following questions:
- Does your child experience flashbacks?
- Does your child have insomnia or nightmares?
- Does your child avoid people, places, or activities that remind them of something traumatic that happened?
- Does being around certain people, places, or activities cause your child to feel triggered?
- Does your child feel uncomfortable in crowds?
- Is your child easily startled?
- Does your child worry about having a safe exit strategy when they are in a public or unfamiliar place?
- Has your child developed difficulty in school after a traumatic event?
- Has your child reverted to behaviors associated with a younger age, such as bedwetting or being clingy?
- Does your child exhibit signs of anxiety or depression?
- Does your child feel unexplainable guilt or shame?
- Does your child often feel helpless or unsafe?
- Has your child begun using or abusing drugs or alcohol?
- Has your child had a near-death experience, such as an accident or illness?
- Has your child lost a loved one or been through a divorce in the family?
- Does your child suffer from panic attacks with symptoms such as rapid heart rate, sweating, numbness, nausea, or a feeling they may pass out or die?
Assessment of My Childhood Trauma Quiz
After taking the childhood trauma quiz, count your answers. If your child answered yes to three or more questions, they may suffer from childhood trauma. If this is the case, it’s important to get help immediately. Parents can discuss the quiz results with their child’s doctor or a therapist. This can help them plan to get the right care for their child.
How to Treat Childhood Trauma
If taking a childhood trauma quiz shows that trauma has impacted your child’s life, taking steps to get them treatment becomes of paramount importance. Trauma-based illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) need professional treatment from clinicians trained in the field. When the person in need is an adolescent, it’s valuable to seek care from someone who works with this age group.
Multiple types of therapy prove useful in treating childhood trauma. Individual therapy allows the child a safe space to talk to a caring, neutral party about what happened to them and how they feel. Group therapy allows the child to understand they are not alone. In both cases, they learn healthy coping skills that allow them to overcome the symptoms of trauma. Cognitive-behavioral therapy and dialectical behavior therapy both work well for those dealing with trauma.
Another type of therapy that can help young people tremendously is family therapy. This allows the family to come together, gain an understanding of the traumatic event and its impact on everyone, and focus on helping the loved one heal.
About half of those who deal with a mental illness, such as PTSD, also end up developing an addiction to drugs or alcohol. When this happens, getting treatment for this at the same time will help the child make progress. Getting treatment for dual diagnosis, which is the presence of both a mental health disorder and a substance use disorder, allows a person to receive care for both conditions simultaneously. This saves time and money and allows them to make progress in both areas at the same time.
Begin Treatment for Childhood Trauma in Phoenix, AZ
Childhood trauma can overshadow a young person’s entire life, even moving into negatively affecting their lives as adults. Zenith Behavioral Health in Phoenix has developed a program that treats boys aged 13 to 17 for trauma-based illness, including PTSD. If you need help understanding if this would be a good fit for your son who is struggling, take our childhood trauma quiz. It can give you the answers both you and your child need.
For more information on getting help for childhood trauma, visit our admissions page now. Our friendly staff is waiting to answer any questions you have about helping your child heal.
