Table 1.

Definitions of trauma-related terminology.

Term	Definition
Traumatic Event	An event that threatens actual or perceived injury, death, or the physical integrity of self or others and also causes horror, terror, or helplessness at the time it occurs and overwhelms a person’s ability to cope (e.g., physical/sexual abuse, medical trauma, motor vehicle accident, acts of terrorism, war experiences, natural and human-made disasters, witnessed homicides/suicides) [10].
Early Life Stress (ELS)	A broad spectrum of adverse and stressful experiences (e.g., maltreatment, neglect, parental separation, parental loss, extreme poverty, starvation, domestic/community/school violence, medical trauma/illness, war and disaster experiences, etc.) during the first months of life, early and late childhood, and adolescence [11], while the term has been recently extended by some authors and includes also prenatal life events [12].
Childhood Trauma/ Maltreatment (CT)	A more specific form of ELS restrictively referring to only physically or emotionally painful or distressful interpersonal traumatic events during childhood (e.g., physical/sexual/emotional abuse, physical/emotional neglect) [13].
Childhood Adverse Experiences (ACEs)	This broader term includes both ELS and CT. All ACEs exhibit a dose-response effect between number and duration of ACEs and related negative health effects [14].
Severe Life Stress (SLS)	A serious psychosocial event of random duration, with the potential of causing an impacting psychological traumatism and producing severe strain (e.g., loss of loved ones, job loss, prolonged social isolation, etc.) [15].
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)	A trauma- and stress-related disorder with distinctive symptoms following a psychologically distressing event outside the range of usual human experience [10]. Diagnostic criteria include current symptoms from each of four symptom clusters: intrusion, avoidance, negative alterations in cognitions and mood, and alterations in arousal and reactivity including sleep disturbances. The estimated lifetime prevalence of PTSD in the general U.S. population lies between 5–6% in men and 10–14% in women [16]. The previously defined as Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) condition is now considered a valid DSM-5 Criterion A for PTSD.