From lovers to mothers, many of us strive to achieve harmonious romantic relationships. While it seems to come naturally for a select few, many people view love as a battlefield.

Some people tend to fall into the same spider web of issues - just with different faces. It has left many to wonder what exactly the problem's origin is. Is it just modern society in general or is it our childhood issues breaking skin?

Author and screenwriter Vladimir Lescouflair explores these issues in his recently released Disturbed or in the French title, Dechenen.

"It shows that what young children see and experience can affect them in the future. What you go through as a child can grow to be problem," said actor Mecca A.K.A. Grimo who plays Rico in the film. "You become numb to the ills of society if you are exposed to it too young or too much."

In Disturbed, a group of young adults living in South Florida have traumatic pasts that manifest themselves in the present in the deadliest of ways. 

The film revolves around Maggie, a well-put-together woman in her twenties who falls in love with an alluring and successful accountant named Frank. Maggie's prince charming comes with one very big issue - an obsessive ex-lover, Chantale, who stalks and threatens Maggie. It's not long before Maggie realizes how serious of a problem Chantale is when her friends begin to die.

Meanwhile, seven-year-old Junie lives under the tyranny and abuse of her mother. In an effort to survive her mother's brutality, Junie begins to develop a violent rage hidden under her innocent appearance. Junie's rage is a ticking time bomb about to explode.

Inspired by Alfred Hitchcock, Lescouflair had always wanted to explore psychological themes like those in Hitchcock's Psycho, Vertigo and Amnesia.

"We added the loss of loved ones to the story and tense emotional conflict comes into play. But the conflict is confounded more by the fact that each character brings a traumatic past into the struggle," said Lescouflair. "Their past histories determine how they see the world and subconsciously determine their reactions to such intense situations."

According to American Humane, an organization dedicated to protecting children and animals,about 12 out of every 1,000 children up to age 18 in the United States were found to be victims of maltreatment in 2005.

"The most negative ills in society dealing with childhood trauma is not detecting or neglecting what our children are going through. Too often we as adults become detached from our children's lives," said Mecca.

With divorce rates averaging as high as 50% for first marriages, an overwhelming number of children are being raised by single parents.

Are parents in denial when it comes to the issues facing their child or are they simply too overworked to notice?

How we deal with trauma, how it affects us, how we recover or don't recover has more to do with the internal substance of someone's character than we think.

Still, we are not immune to the shadows of our pasts, which makes Disturbed a most appealing film.

Disturbed will be screened at Cinema Paradiso, 503 SE 6^th St. in Fort Lauderdale, Fl., on Sept. 25 at 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.