Citation

Kaminer D, Eagle G, Crawford-Browne S. J. Health Psychol. 2018; 23(8): 1038-1049.

Affiliation

University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1359105316642831

PMID

27091760

Abstract

This article discusses the condition ofcontinuous traumatic stressas common on the African continent and in other international settings characterised by very high levels of ongoing violence and threat of community, political or war-related origin. Through consideration of three case studies from South Africa, contexts of continuous traumatic stress are described, and the mental health and physical health effects of living in such contexts are elaborated. Cautions are raised about attempting to transpose existing posttraumatic stress models onto individuals exposed to situations of continuous traumatic stress, and guidelines for optimal interventions with such cases are proposed.

© The Author(s) 2016.

Language: en