Strain Trauma: When Prolonged Stress Is Just Too Much

Generally, we assume trauma results from an intensely distressing or emotionally shocking event. Trauma is also recognized as potentially complex or chronic, such as when a child endures constant family violence, or where an individual experiences ongoing and disturbing circumstances that result in unpredictable emotions and physical symptoms. Certainly, the term may be overused to describe upsetting personal events that are later remembered and assumed to be an indication of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), whether or not the particular event and psychological aftermath meet the actual diagnostic criteria.

Nevertheless, broad use of the word “trauma” can refer to something that is deeply upsetting and shattering, or it may refer to an event that has altered the course of one’s development. [1]

In this looser sense, trauma may result from chronic and cumulative distressing situations in one’s life. It may involve an ongoing event that seems impossible to incorporate into one’s psyche or a series of events activating emotions that seem beyond one’s ability to tolerate. For example, an individual may be coping with the pandemic alongside grieving the loss of a family member, managing financial hardship, handling the care of a critically ill child, or attempting to deal with any kind of stressor imaginable.

Over a half-century ago, theorists proposed the term “strain trauma” or “cumulative trauma” to describe the traumatic effects of longstanding accumulations of frustrating tensions. [2, 3, 4] Certainly, ongoing tension from threats to one’s health, impediments to one’s ability to earn a living, or even the frustration that results from an enduring an obstacle to one’s desire to live life as expected (such as attending school and interacting with peers) qualify as a strain trauma.

The threat to oneself of personal injury or death, or the threatened or actual harm to loved ones, have been associated with traumatic strain that may alter one’s personality. [5] Early psychoanalysts considered psychic trauma as having the potential to shatter the foundation of one’s life so that the person remains absorbed in concentrating upon the past and abandons their interest in the present and future. [6] We now understand that all significant emotional experiences, and an accumulation of experiences where intense emotions have been felt throughout our lives, script our present behavior and create who we become. [7]

On its own, a pandemic is stressful. Of course, the impact of such an event will vary based upon our individual circumstances and responses. Yet distress emotion can persist by becoming repeatedly triggered in anticipation of distressing events yet to come. Then, we can throw into the mix things like political unrest, hurricanes, tornados, fires, personal hardship, death, or simply heartbreak from a failed relationship. There are innumerable possibilities that may contribute to an overload on one’s emotional system that results in strain trauma, including watching a lot of bad news.

Unfortunately, managing the conditions or problems that activate continuous distress is sometimes beyond our ability. However, we can find ways to manage or cope with the emotions we experience. Negative emotions that garner our attention can be disruptive and distracting as they demand immediate and focused attention to whatever stimulus triggers them. In this way, our emotions serve to protect us. Evolutionarily speaking, our capacity for immediate and focused attention on salient stimuli is a mechanism that produces a higher probability of survival in a changeable environment. Yet if we are constantly paying attention to a threat, we risk strain trauma. Thus, limiting the input of information that triggers negative emotions may be necessary. Focusing our attention on interesting, enjoyable, or exciting endeavors (even simple ones) can, at least temporarily, diminish the strain and help us regain a sense of stability.

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