Responding to childhood trauma

For much of the 20th century, the male arena of war was the focus for understanding traumatic experiences. Late-19th-century psychiatry had included the sphere of the family and childhood sexual abuse, but they were largely left aside until the 1980s. Since post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was introduced as a DSM diagnosis in 1980, what counts as traumatic events and symptoms has been continually contested and modified. Childhood maltreatment is now considered a form of interpersonal trauma involving physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, or neglect, but understandings are still shifting.