Crisis and trauma are closely related concepts and it can be confusing to know the difference. Often one leads to another or in some cases, like a natural disaster, happens at the same time. In fact, they are often on a continuum. Read on to learn more about the relationships between stress, crisis, trauma and PTSD
Understanding What “Crisis” Means
One definition of crisis is “a time for decision-making, a turning point, or a moment of reckoning” [1]. Another defines it as an extremely difficult or dangerous point. A crisis causes an imbalance in an individual or system. A crisis incident is a sudden, unexpected and overwhelming event that is out of the range of expected experiences.
A crisis has the potential to create significant human distress and can overwhelm a person’s usual coping mechanisms. A person may feel intense fear, helplessness, horror and completely out of control. This makes it difficult to stay in balance and cope in appropriately healthy ways. A crisis makes you feel especially vulnerable. After such an abnormal event most people experience reactions that are disturbing and difficult to accept.
The severity of crises varies on a continuum. At a personal level these may include:
- Having your house broken into
- Having your car stolen
- Being assaulted
- Being seriously injured
- Being raped
- Childhood sexual abuse
- Suicide
At a broader societal level, these may include:
- A forest fire
- A flood
- A hurricane
- War
- Riots
- Racial incidents
Crisis intervention offers the immediate help that a person needs to reestablish equilibrium.
What Can Be Considered as “Trauma”
The Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice defines trauma as an experience that causes a person to feel afraid, overwhelmed, out of control, and broken [2]. Others define it as a scary situation that threatens a person’s safety to the point that they are extremely afraid and their body and mind enter survival mode.
Traumatic events overwhelm the ordinary systems of care that give people a sense of control, connection, and meaning. They can affect a person emotionally and physically.
People filter traumatic experiences through their own unique ways of thinking and feeling. Depending on this filter some may have less of a reaction while others may develop more severe symptoms.
Stress, Crisis, Trauma, and PTSD
The relationship between crisis and trauma is a continuum with stress on one end and Allostatic Load and chronic stress, as happens with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), on the other end, as follows below [2].
Many people’s bodies and brains are able to rebalance themselves after stress, crisis or trauma incidents. This is due to allostasis, the brain and body’s process for stabilizing itself in the face of these events. Although it helps surviving and adapting to stress, crisis and trauma, it’s possible to experience allostatic load if circumstances put too much pressure on this system.
While allostasis is a protective survival mechanism, if overloaded, people can experience significant health consequences including heart disease, heart complications and death.
| Stress | Crisis | Trauma | Allostatic Load/ Chronic Stress |
| Something that happens in a person’s environment that is overwhelming and that the person believes will stretch their ability to cope in a healthy way | A situation that disrupts the status quo, leaves the person feeling powerless, and causes the person to feel “that things might never be the same”. | Trauma is an experience that causes the person to feel afraid, overwhelmed, out of control, and broken. Trauma affects how people view themselves, others and the world around them. | Allostasis helps us adapt and survive in the face of stress, crisis and trauma, but particularly with PTSD. We can experience allostatic load if we put too much pressure on this system (allostasis) to calm us down from ongoing stress. Allostatic load leads to significant health consequences. |
Can Crisis Cause or Transform Into Trauma?
If we refer to the continuum, it’s very possible that stress can lead to a crisis. Stress results in acute and chronic changes in neurochemical systems and specific brain regions, which result in long-term changes in brain “circuits” involved in the stress response [3]. This is what allostatic load is all about.
Similarly, a crisis can transform to trauma, especially if the environment continues to be threatening and unsafe, or if the person has less resilience to cope with a crisis. Often trauma can be the aftermath of a crisis.
However, as Dr. Gabor Maté emphasizes, “Trauma is not what happens outside of you, it’s what happens inside of you”. So it’s important to recognize how a person has experienced and is still experiencing trauma, for those who are trying to help. In extreme cases, survivors of disasters, war, rape or early childhood abuse who have experienced such intensely stressful events, can develop PTSD. It affects about 8% of the US population.
PTSD symptoms include:
- Intrusive thoughts
- Hyperarousal
- Flashbacks
- Nightmares
- Sleep disturbances
- Changes in memory and contraction
- Startle responses
PTSD usually develops immediately after a traumatic event or series of events. However for some, symptoms may not show until years later. Some people may have mild PTSD symptoms while for others they may be severe and chronic. The duration also varies with some people recovering within the first 3 months and others experiencing symptoms for months or years [4].
Help Available in Utah
Treatment is available in Utah. Are you or a loved one looking for a compassionate space to heal from trauma or PTSD, other mental health issues or addictions? Our licensed trauma-informed professional therapists and counselors at Corner Canyon Health Centers can provide compassionate help using a range of therapeutic and holistic techniques.
Reach out to our Admissions team now at Corner Canyon. We’re in a peaceful setting bordered by the beautiful Wasatch Mountains.
Sources
[1] Cavaiola, A. & Colford, J. (2006). A practical guide to crisis intervention. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
[2] Corrado, M. 2020. Stress, Crisis & Trauma: Supporting Individuals in Distress. Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice.
[3] Bremner JD. Traumatic stress: effects on the brain. Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2006;8(4):445-61
[4] Center for the Study of Anxiety. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Perelman School of Medicine. University of Pennsylvania.
