Which of the following is an example of trauma?

• A. Financial exploitation and neglect
• B. Physical injury
• C. Abuse, neglect, exploitation, and dislocation
• D. Psychological distress only

Answer: (C)

Trauma comes from experiencing harm that disrupts a person’s sense of safety across different areas of life. The best choice includes abuse, neglect, exploitation, and dislocation because it covers a broad range of harmful experiences that can lead to lasting impacts—interpersonal harm (abuse), failures to protect or care (neglect), acts done to benefit someone else at the person’s expense (exploitation), and disruption of home or community ties (dislocation).

The other options are narrower: focusing only on financial harm misses non-financial forms of harm; focusing only on physical injury ignores emotional and environmental factors; focusing on psychological distress alone overlooks events and conditions that cause that distress. Trauma is not limited to one type of harm or a single symptom; it can stem from multiple intertwined experiences.