Due to the nature of being covert, it is hard to detect it as trauma.  Overt trauma such as physical or sexual abuse is easier to accept as trauma.  Childhood neglect (physical, emotional, financial, mental) and enmeshment (intrusive shaming or over-involvement with a child) are examples of covert trauma which gets overlooked by a lot of people.

Childhood neglect may happen as one or both parents have mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence, criminal activities, poverty, personality disorder, immaturity, etc.  Yet, they wound the children in the same or similar way that overt abuse does. They are the hardest forms of trauma to treat because they are not given proper attention. 

Many adults who have had severe neglect have difficulty meeting their own needs or fulfilling their own wants.  A lot of times, they repeat what they saw their parents have done, creating intergenerational trauma with their own children.  It helps us to start naming childhood neglect as trauma.  Just like diagnosing an exact cause of stomach problem as ulcer can bring the right treatment, diagnosing childhood neglect as covert trauma can direct us in the direction of appropriate treatments.

We are not trying to point fingers at our parents for all of our problems, rather we want to see the reality as it is so that we can make sense of our reality and deal with it. Without minimizing or maximizing, we can be honest with how we grew up. Awareness is the first step towards change.