Any upsetting event that happens in a family during a child's early years, and has a long-lasting effect on the emotional and psychological health of that child, is childhood family trauma. This can involve neglect, experiencing physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, seeing marital violence, or being raised in a home where substance use or mental illness happened.

DTD refers to childhood trauma like chronic abuse, neglect, and other adversity occurring in the home. A child experiencing overwhelming stress, and one that does not receive any support from their caregiver to help reduce it, can experience developmental trauma. Children experiencing developmental trauma are at risk for illnesses that impact them long-term.

It can be very difficult to avoid events that can bring up past trauma, especially in a world where we can see anything unfiltered by the click of a button on our phones. Whether it is news of major disasters, injustice, or violence, witnessing these events can be overwhelming and bring up traumatic memories.