Abstract
Studying the macro-dynamics of traumatization should significantly advance psychological science. The current article tested the validity of the non-linear threshold model of the effects of cumulative stressors and traumas (CST). We used a combined data set of adults and adolescents from Egypt, Kuwait, and the UK (N = 968) that measured CST, internalizing, externalizing and thought disorders. We used the cusp catastrophe analysis that can identify the non-linear threshold dynamics. The non-linear cusp (threshold) model accounted for a much higher variance than the linear model, indicating the presence of threshold effects of CST on internalizing, externalizing and thought disorders. Interventions should target the multiply traumatized who are at risk for the cusp effects and not only those who are victims of the cusp. The study provided evidence for the utility of a paradigm shift to study the macro-dynamics of stressors and traumas, and not only their micro-dynamics.
Highlights
Mrs XX was a 55-year-old Iraqi refugee woman who has nine living children
While most of the studies of micro-dynamics focus on the dose-response linear models, Macro-dynamics involve more the non-linear traumatization dynamics or the total impact of cumulative stressors and traumas (CST)
CST was associated with externalizing disorders both linearly (F = 5.34, p < 0.022, R2 = 0.03), and non-linearly (F = 4.19, p < 0.008, R2 = 0.067), with the non-linear model accounting for over twice the percentage of variance in the linear model
Summary
Mrs XX was a 55-year-old Iraqi refugee woman who has nine living children. In Iraq, she lost two brothers and two older sons who had been killed by Saddam’s regime. These nonlinear cusp shifts from one state to another can happen upon exposure to cumulative and proliferated external and internal pressures/stressors (Guastello, & Liebovitch, 2009; Kira & Wroble, 2016; Zeeman, 1976) and the most recent stressor (or chain of stressors) can falsely appear as the direct cause of the disorder Within this dynamic system model, including linear and non-linear causal chains and loops, the relatively recent single or chain traumas can be the stressor that triggers a pathological response, which is not the actual cause of the symptom presentation
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