Stress, Traumatic Stress, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- 7 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
By Mark D. Lerner, Ph.D.
Principal Consultant and Creator, AI-Integrated Emotional Wellness™
When we think of stress, we generally associate it with the potential wear and tear on the mind and body as we adjust to the challenges and changes of daily life.
Yet, there are both negative and positive attributes to stress. On the negative side, stress can compromise our ability to think clearly, cause us to feel anxious, disrupt our sleep, and ultimately contribute to physical illness. On the positive side, stress can be a powerful force that motivates us to act, solve problems, meet deadlines, and accomplish important goals. Some people describe how they perform better when they feel challenged and under pressure.
Some events in our lives can be so overwhelming that we perceive a serious threat to our physical well-being or the well-being of others. We may experience intense feelings of fear, helplessness, or horror. We may feel overwhelmed, unsafe, insecure, and vulnerable. This is traumatic stress—our feelings, thoughts, actions, and physical and spiritual reactions when we experience or witness an event that overwhelms our coping and problem-solving abilities.
People experience traumatic stress when they're exposed to disasters and catastrophes such as a plane crash, terrorist attack, military combat, or flood. Yet traumatic stress doesn't have to be the result of a highly publicized event with a two-inch newspaper headline. People also experience traumatic stress during the personal events and tragedies that affect their lives: confronting a serious illness or injury, coping with the loss of a loved one, being physically or sexually violated, experiencing an accident, or enduring a divorce.
Like stress itself, traumatic stress can also have a positive side. It can become the force that motivates people to reassess priorities, discover new strengths, cultivate a mission, and ultimately live with a renewed sense of meaning and purpose. By understanding what traumatic stress is—and recognizing that it's often a normal response to an abnormal event—we place ourselves in a better position to survive and thrive. I addressed this in a recent article entitled How to OVERCOME & BECOME.
We must not confuse traumatic stress with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD, along with other psychiatric diagnoses, is a psychiatric condition that may be diagnosed when individuals continue to experience significant and persistent symptoms that interfere with their ability to function long after exposure to a traumatic event.
During a crisis, the brain is flooded with chemicals designed to help keep us alive. Our powerful biological responses can enhance our ability to respond to danger. However, they can sometimes continue long after the danger has passed, causing us to feel anxious, excessively watchful, panicky, angry, depressed, or emotionally overwhelmed. These reactions can compromise our functioning and quality of life.
Many people are too quick to label people with PTSD. While diagnoses can be helpful in communicating with and between healthcare professionals and obtaining third-party reimbursement, they should never define a person. Labels can become self-fulfilling prophecies. When individuals begin to view themselves primarily through the lens of a diagnosis like PTSD, they may start to see themselves as a disorder rather than as a person experiencing symptoms. A diagnosis describes symptoms; it does not define the individual.
We can't avoid experiencing loss, illness, adversity, and tragedy during our lifetimes. They're part of the human experience. Nor can we inoculate ourselves against traumatic stress. Traumatic stress is often a normal response to an abnormal event. However, when we understand what's happening to us while it is happening—and recognize that many of our reactions are normal—we're in a better position to walk the path from victim to survivor and, ultimately, to thriver.
Today, AI-Integrated Emotional Wellness™ provides accessible information and evidence-based strategies, tools, and support that can help us during a crisis. However, a fundamental truth remains unchanged: authentic human connection and face-to-face human presence are irreplaceable—and essential—for emotional wellness.
By reaching people early with strategies such as Acute Traumatic Stress Management™ during challenges and change and providing practical, evidence-based information, guidance, and support, we can potentially prevent the acute stress reactions of today from becoming the chronic and debilitating stress and trauma-related disorders of tomorrow.
Our mission at The National Center for Emotional Wellness is to advance emotional wellness by integrating technology with the irreplaceable power of authentic human presence. We're here for you.