Chronic traumatic stress and chronic pain in the majority world: notes towards an integrative approach

Abstract

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and chronic pain have been identified as global health challenges for health professionals, and there is a robust literature linking PTSD and chronic pain. Much of the research is focused on high-income countries, leaving a serious gap when chronic pain is considered globally. Using the concept of Continuous Traumatic Stress (CTS), we look at how broader social conditions impact on the experience of chronic pain. We review the relevant literature on chronic pain, PTSD, and CTS, and suggest a research agenda for a more globally relevant and contextual understanding of chronic pain.

Keywords:

• Chronic pain
• chronic stress
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Acknowledgements

LS is grateful for financial support from the NRF. The Grantholder (LS) acknowledges that opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in any publication generated by the NRF supported research are that of the authors, and that the NRF accepts no liability whatsoever in this regard.

Notes

1. Early in the development of the concept of CTS, Straker and colleagues (see, e.g. Straker and the Sanctuaries Counselling Team, 1987) referred to ‘CTS syndrome’, and the word ‘syndrome’ has since been attached to CTS intermittently. We prefer not to use the term ‘syndrome’ as use of the term may narrow the gaze to the search for a medical or quasi-medical diagnosis. Our work, and much of the work on CTS, is more broad: we wish to understand the embodied consequences of social conditions.