Signs of
STRUGGLE
Overview of Psychological Injuries and the Most Common Symptoms, as well as the Top Reasons to Engage in Recovery.
Most people don’t easily and immediately know they are struggling with toxic stress, burnout, trauma or complex trauma – unless there was a clear, significant, threatening event and they started struggling quickly afterward.
What’s more common is that they start feeling different or noticing things over time. They try to make things better but keep struggling despite their efforts.
After a while of being ‘stuck’, they wonder if maybe something deeper is going on.
So, they start trying to identify and label the signs of their struggle and figure out what they mean.
Maybe you can relate?
5 Things to Keep in Mind
For many reasons (including that self-awareness is reduced by stress activation), recognition of toxic stress and various psychological injuries can be tricky. Go slow and try to be open to seeing what’s really going on.
- Looking at the signs / symptoms can bring a mix of relief and overwhelm as we recognize what’s been happening without knowing where to start. Let yourself be in the mixed response while knowing that recovery is possible.
- The symptoms are going to look a little different for each person depending on their specific story and circumstances. Don’t try to fit yourself into a box of symptoms.
- Burnout, Empathetic Distress, Trauma, Complex Trauma are psychological injuries that impact us in all directions. Of course you are struggling. Have care and self-compassion.
- Toxic Stress, and psychological injuries are a nervous system response that happens beyond conscious awarness or control. They do not reflect a lack or failure. Give yourself support not reprimands.
- Even if the signs/ symptoms seems like a lot, know that there generally psychological injuries are recoverable with the right knowledge and supports. Stay hopeful that things can change.
Toxic Stress
Toxic Stress is when stress activation is heightened and prolonged.
Our nervous system is designed for short bursts of stress activation that resolve and return our system back to calm. So, when we go through circumstances that result in heightened or prolonged stress activation, after a while the nervous system can get stuck and can no longer return itself to its resting state of calm.
There are circumstances that can result in toxic stress, whether intense experiences with difficult to tolerate stressors or a bunch of smaller stressful experiences that stack up.
Certain circumstances of toxic stress have different labels. For example, when job demands exceed resources it can result in occupational burnout, whereas compassion fatigue or empathetic distress is the physical, emotional, and psychological impact of helping others particularly with their pain and suffering.
TOXIC STRESS SIGNS – SYMPTOMS
Stress activation is a normal and healthy, although complex neurophysiological process that happens automatically and by design in the brain and body in response to perceived or actual demands and dangers (stressors), whether internal or external.
When stress activation continues in the brain and body for an extended period, it is toxic. The nervous system becomes dysregulated and is no longer able to move out of survival.
- arousal and reactivity symptoms e.g., on alert, hypervigilent.
- shut down symptoms e.g., numbing, suppression, dissociation.
- nervous system dysregulation (unable to settle).
- narrowed window of tolerance.
- overwhelm and inability to cope and maintain healthy functioning.
- exhaustion and challenges feeling restored.
WHAT’S HAPPENING
These signs all point to a nervous system that is stuck in stress activation and a survival state.
The various neurochemicals that are part of stress activation impact different parts of functioning.
So, when there is too much stress activation, it shows up in how we think, how we feel, how we take care of ourselves, how we relate to others, how we settle and cope, and how our body functions and regulates itself.
Trauma
Trauma is a lasting psychological, emotional and/or physiological response to a distressing event that overwhelms an individual’s ability to cope, causing fear, helplessness, and lasting negative effects on day to day functioning.
It typically involves a significant traumatic event or prolonged circumstances such as threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence through direct experience, witnessing, learning that the event occured to a close family member or friend, or experiencing repeated or extreme exposure to difficult details of the traumatic event.
There is wide variability in what results as “trauma” or is “traumatizing” for someone, based on many factors such as vulnerability and available supports.
TRAUMA SIGNS – SYMPTOMS
Trauma is far more common than most people realize. And because of how the brain works, much of it is stored subconsciously (meaning beyond our conscious awareness). The effects impact the brain and basic functioning, often significantly, as well as our ability to relate and create consciously with ourselves, others and the larger world. Individuals can become compromised by the many potential effects of trauma.
Typical effects of toxic stress (above) as well as the processes of trauma including:
- intrusive symptoms like distressing memories, nightmares.
- dissociative symptoms.
- avoidance patterns e.g., distraction, substances, shopping, eating, screens.
- unhelpful thinking patterns and vicious cycles.
- survival based emotional learning and belief systems.
- unrecognized and unprocessed grief and loss.
- moral and spiritual questioning and distress.
WHAT’S HAPPENING
The nervous system has become overwhelmed and is stuck in a survival state, affecting many parts of functioning.
The unresolved traumatic event/circumstance is being triggered, causing distress that feels like it is in the here and now.
Without knowing how to resolve the internal distress, avoidance is often used to cope or to just keep functioning.
The unprocessed traumatic event/circumstance has altered core beliefs and emotional learning, causing things to feel unsafe.
Complex Trauma
Complex Trauma is the experience of multiple, chronic, and prolonged traumatic events- often interpersonal in nature- typically occuring in early life, such as abuse, neglect, or caregiver abandonment. It differs from single-incident trauma by profoundly disrupting a person’s development, sense of self, and ability to form secure attachment.
There is a long list of circumstances that have been linked to the potential of complex trauma such as: prenatal or other medical trauma; physical, emotional, psychological and/or sexual abuse; family violence; emotional or physical neglect; parental substance abuse; mental illness, incarceration, caregiver death or abandonment; divorce especially high conflict; chronic povery or food insecurity; bullying or prolonged peer rejection; struggling with learning difficulties; community violence; macro or accumulated microaggressions, and intergenerational trauma. Of course, factors such as frequency, severity, and vulnerability increase the likelihood of complex trauma while support can be mitigating.
COMPLEX TRAUMA SIGNS – SYMPTOMS
hen there is prolonged or repeated exposure to traumatic events, often of an interpersonal nature, complex trauma is the common result.
Typical effects of toxic stress and trauma (above) as well as the additional effects and processes of complex types of trauma including:
- self-harm and/or suicidal thoughts, plans, attempts.
- addictions and other means of managing internal distress.
- alterations in attention and consciousness.
- emotion regulation difficulties and low distress tolerance.
- harshness or aggression toward self or others.
- compromised mind-body and mind-spirit relationship.
- learned helplessness, poor efficacy and low empowerment.self-harm and/or suicidal thoughts, plans, attempts.
- survival based trauma adaptations.
- issues with coherent identity, sense of self.
- negative self-concept and often deep seated sense of shame.
- issues of abandonment of self or others.
- insecure attachment styles impairing the development of healthy, reciprocal relationships.
- presence of somatic distress/somatization of illness, chronic illnesses and pain conditions e.g., migraines, GI problems, autoimmune disorders, chronic fatigue, obesity, heart disease etc.
WHAT’S HAPPENING
The nervous system has become overwhelmed and is stuck in a survival state, affecting many parts of functioning.
The unresolved traumatic event/circumstance is being triggered, causing distress that feels like it is in the here and now.
Without knowing how to resolve the significant internal distress, avoidance, stimulation, pleasure seeking, and/or self-harm are used to cope or to just keep functioning.
The unprocessed traumatic events/circumstances have altered core beliefs and emotional learning, causing things to feel unsafe and affecting identify, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and attachments.
The prolonged stress activation results in alterations in the brain’s functioning and neurochemistry. It also narrows the window of tolerance for handling stress and acts like a kindling process contributing to the development of physical illness.
Psychological injury descriptions and signs-symptoms adapted from: Fatter, D. (2022). Trauma Treatment Certification Training ; Hermann, J. (1992). Trauma and recovery- The Aftermath of Violence; Schwartz, A. (2024). Complex PTSD Training; Simington, J. (2013). Trauma Recovery Certification Course Handbook.
Even once someone bravely recognizes that they are likely experiencing some sort of psychological injury, they aren’t usually immediately ready to reach out for support.
Sometimes, the recognition can provide a little bit of relief for a while.
Readiness is a process.
It takes time.
It takes sitting with our circumstances, and the reality of our day to day functioning, while preparing ourselves.
Recovery Readiness
Readiness to start counselling when it comes to psychological injuries usually comes down to two things.
We have to reach the point where we need or want to stop the struggle and/or we want to gain or regain some of the good stuff of life.
In truth, no one ever feels fully ready.
They just feel ready enough to try. That’s often all it takes. A few seeds of readiness to work with.
You can explore and work with the different pieces of readiness below to see where you’re at and help move yourself closer.
Top Reasons to Stop the Struggle with Support for Toxic Stress, Trauma and Complex Trauma
1. I am stuck in survival and how I try to cope with it affects almost every aspect of my functioning.
2. I am caught in vicious cycles and repetitive patterns that I can’t seem to break out of.
3. The survival symptoms and functioning compromise how I feel about myself and how I relate to others especially as a partner and parent.
4. There is fall out in other areas of my life such as work, finances, lifestyle and health.
5. My development has already been thwarted, or I realize that so long as I am stuck in survival, I am not really growing and moving forward.
Top Reasons to Gain the Good Stuff with Support for Toxic Stress, Trauma and Complex Trauma
1. I want to settle my nervous system so that I can return to calmness, clarity and connection.
2. I want to restore my sense of self and then bring that into my roles and relationships.
3. I want to be able to handle things, even the difficult things in my life cope in healthy ways and making changes without going in circles.
4. I want to move forward and experience positive outcomes in the various areas of my life.
5. I want to grow and develop (including by catching up in places where I was thwarted) so I can reach for my potential.