y blocking the impulses or distorting them into a more acceptable, less threatening form which forms a protective shield against harmful stimuli. With the understanding of such a protective shield that exists in the human nervous system, the concept of trauma can finally be introduced. In order to establish the core Freudian definition of what trauma is, a proper description from Freud himself is the most appropriate introduction.
             We describe as ¡®traumatic¡¯ any excitations from outside which are powerful enough to break through the protective shield. It seems to me that the concept of trauma necessarily implies a connection of this kind with a breach in an otherwise efficacious barrier against stimuli. Such an event as an external trauma is bound to provoke a disturbance on a large scale in the functioning of the organism¡¯s energy and to set in motion every possible defensive measure. At the same time, the pleasure principle is for the moment put out of action. There is no longer any possibility of preventing the mental apparatus from be
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