At the CIMVHR Annual Forum, we learned that not all mental trauma leads to stress injury or PTSD.

Psychological trauma is an assault that occurs to the mind when distressing events exceeds one’s capacity to cope or process the events. Most people are able to get over most incidents. But when the trauma becomes prolonged, intense, or numerous, it becomes harder to shake it off. That’s when stress injury occurs.

A stress injury is a wound to the psyche that affects one’s ability to function. An operational stress injury is one that occurs in the workplace, and is not limited to war zones. Like a physical injury, such as a sprain, pulled muscle, or broken bone, some rehab is required for healing to take place.

PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) occurs when stress injuries don’t resolve, with or without support, within a month. The delay between the traumatic events and the ongoing distress is the “post” part of PTSD. About half the cases resolve within six months, and the remainder persist for years or even the rest of their lives.

It’s difficult to know who will develop stress injuries and PTSD, but there are mitigating factors and risk factors.

Having prior experience healing from trauma, being older (and wiser?), and having a childhood within a warm and caring family decrease the likelihood of PTSD.

Family history, no longer being married, and lower socio-economic status raise the likelihood of PTSD.

What do you think? Do these academic definitions jive with your experience? What would you tell the researchers?