During times of great burden, people typically feel overwhelmed. These experiences are equally physical emotional, and cognitive. The brain and body equally share the burden of the stress we experience in our lives. The name for the cumulative effect of all forms of stress is called the Allostatic Load.
I’d used this term in de-escalation trainings before. A former colleague of mine joined me in co-facilitating a number of Trauma-informed trainings for mental health and general medical practitioners and this phrase was part of my colleague curriculum. I’d heard it before but during this series of trainings, the repetitive exposure to these two words in her work on the neurobiology of stress resonated with me. I recall a few other people appreciating learning this new concept to understand the physical toll of cumulative stress.
Continue reading “Allostatic Load: The cumulative burdens we bear”
