Notably, early trauma can cause epigenetic changes, that is, molecular changes in reaction to the environment that do not alter the DNA of a gene but do affect the expression of that gene. Some of these epigenetic changes are initiated in childhood and persist into adulthood. One such change is known to occur in a gene that regulates our response to stress; this change heightens the risk of developing PTSD in response to traumatic stress in adulthood.
