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learn about it, adapt to it, and fight it. Stress can affect anyone and the number of people suffering from excessive stress, related health conditions, and mental disorders continues to grow year after year. Children are susceptible to developing stress-related disorders such as separation anxiety, and social anxiety. “On any given day, three to five percent of children and adolescents in the United States have some type of anxiety disorder. Without treatment, this kind of disorder can interfere with the ability to carry out everyday tasks, succeed in school, or make and keep friends. Or it may simply cause great distress that saps much of their enjoyment from life.” 4 As staggering as these figures are, even more people are believed to suffer from stress-related disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, separation anxiety, and adjustment and mental disorders connected to stress. The Problem With Treating Stress-Related Disorders “A person can only take so much stress before he or she begins to feel uncomfortable. The mind and body become agitated: there is a vague sense of fear for the future; it becomes impossible to get a problem out of your head; you find it difficult to relax, especially at night. Sometimes, stress can even make you slow down and become depressed, rather than agitated.” 5 These changes in how a person thinks and feels and reacts can have a huge impact on his or her life. When stress cannot be experienced, processed, and realized, it can build and fester and affect people in a negative way. When this occurs for long enough, it can result in the development of a stress-related mental disorder. These disorders can affect how individuals think and feel about themselves and those around them, the world they live in, and any manner of behavior, thought, feeling, or idea that they face in day-to

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Introduction to Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders