What are stressors and traumatic events?
A stressor is an event or experience that can be expected to cause stress in many children with the potential for disrupting normal functioning.1 A traumatic event is expected to overwhelm a child’s coping resources. Children (or adults) are not expected to sustain high levels of psychological wellbeing in the immediate aftermath of a disaster or in situations of severe threat.2 However, as the acute phase of distress passes, many children return to normal levels of functioning and proceed in their development in a healthy fashion.
