We all use the word "trauma" in every day language to mean a highly stressful event. A trauma occurs when people have experienced life-threatening or shocking events which overwhelm the individual's ability to cope. It includes responses to powerful one-time incidents like accidents, natural disasters, crimes, surgeries, deaths, and other violent events. The circumstances of the traumatic event commonly include abuse of power, betrayal of trust, entrapment, helplessness, pain, confusion, and loss.
             Trauma comes in many forms, and there are vast differences among people who experience trauma. Two people could undergo the same noxious event and one person might be traumatized while the other person remained unscathed. Traumatic events that result in the most serious mental health problems are prolonged and repeated, sometimes extending over years of a person's life.
             Divorce of my parents for me was a big trauma that I endured in my adolescence. I loved, and still love, both of them equally. It would be nothing better for me than to be loyal to both parents. As an adolescent, I understood what divorce meant, but I had difficulty accepting the reality of the changes it brought to my family. It changed my life style in home, school, and relationships with friends and extended family members.
             I became a victim of a broken home, and it was hard for me to choose which side to support. I felt responsible for the break-up of their marriage, especially when I saw so much of the fighting was about my custody, visitation, and support. I perceived that I was losing my childhood and experienced a sense of growing up too soon. My mother found a full time job, and in order to help her I become responsible for cleaning, washing, and cooking at home.
             Because of parental divorce, I had also significant declines in school performance, tardiness, and absences. My difficulties in school were caused more by my behavi
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