Continuous Traumatic Stress in Today’s Turbulent Global Context

In an era marked by armed conflicts, forced displacement, political instability, and ecological disasters, millions of individuals live under conditions of continuous threat and uncertainty. Unlike single or multiple traumas resolved in the past, continuous traumatic stress (CTS) arises in environments where danger is ongoing and unresolved, posing unique challenges to psychiatric diagnosis, treatment, and service provision. While post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex PTSD have been extensively studied, CTS remains under-recognized in psychiatric frameworks despite its relevance across diverse global contexts from war-torn regions to communities facing systemic violence.

This Research topic aims to advance interdisciplinary understanding of CTS as a distinct and urgent mental health phenomenon, with a particular focus on its psychiatric manifestations and long-term consequences. This collection will spotlight recent conceptual and empirical developments, promote culturally and contextually responsive assessment tools, and examine evidence-based interventions that can effectively address CTS in high-risk populations. In doing so, this Research Topic will contribute to the development of more tailored psychiatric responses and sustainable support systems for individuals living under conditions of chronic and unresolved threat.

The Topic Editors welcome submissions addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
• conceptualizing CTS as dual dimensions of exposure and psychological, somatic, and behavioral response, and long-term health and resiliency
• developmental and educational challenges in children and adolescents experiencing CTS
• methodological innovations for socially, culturally, and contextually sensitive assessment of CTS
• mechanisms underlying CTS from biological, psychological, social and cultural perspectives (including media and social media)
• differential clinical profiles and trajectories of CTS, PTSD, and complex PTSD in high-risk populations
• development, evaluation, and implementation of evidence-based interventions for CTS
• ethical, moral and intergenerational challenges, including moral injury, within CTS-affected professions and communities.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Registered Report
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review

Keywords: continuous traumatic stress, PTSD, complex PTSD, chronic trauma exposure, neurobiological mechanisms, culturally adapted assessment, interventions, CTS-related mental health

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.