Conceptual limits of the concept of long-term traumatic stress: a comparative analysis with relevant concepts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29038/2227-1376-2025-46-rozKeywords:
continuous traumatic stress (CTS), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD), moral trauma (MT), acute stress reaction (ASR)Abstract
Purpose. The study aims to define clear conceptual boundaries for the concept of continuous traumatic stress (CTS), which requires an analysis of the development of terminology related to stress, and especially traumatic stress, in global science.
Methods. The research used the method of theoretical analysis of scientific literature and comparative analysis of the terminology features of stress-related disorders in international classificationsystems (ICD-11 and DSM-5 TR).
Result. Analyzing the study, it is worth noting that CTS is a condition that arises from prolonged exposure to constant trauma. The term was first introduced by Straker & The Sanctuaries Counseling Team in 1987. The importance of studying PTSD lies in understanding human mental states under conditions of real threat, both present and future, rather than only past experiences. The main focus of CTS is on the perception of constant threat in high-risk environments where the danger is real, active, ongoing, or imminent. Unlike PTSD, which results from a past event, CTS does not have a clear post-traumatic phase due to the ongoing threat.
Conclusions. The study allowed us to draw the following conclusions: in modern scientific thought, there is a general view of CTS through the prism of two basic conceptual models. First, CTS can be viewed as an empirically researched response that manifests itself in the form of behavioural, cognitive, and emotional symptoms that partially coincide with PTSD (increased anxiety, constant concern about the future, somatisation, feelings of helplessness, and mental exhaustion). Second, CTS can be seen as exposure, defined as the very fact of living in conditions of chronic, continuous threat, which cannot be empirically measured in the form of an individual psychological variable, since it is an external factor. The phenomenology of СTS has several distinctive features from classic PTSD: contextuality, i.e., mediation by country, culture, and socio-political system; trauma in the present tense, where insecurity is ongoing and keeps the body in a state of chronic hyperarousal without a clear “post” phase; the presence of both real and imagined threats; the lack of social protection structures, which themselves can be a source of threat, reinforcing feelings of helplessness; and the fact that CTS is predominantly viewed as a collective trauma.
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