Glossary

Terms and definitions

Allostatic Load

A battery of biochemical tests that measure the effects of social stress on a person's physiology.

Allostatic Overload

The state where chronic stress has led to biochemical dysregulation in the body.

Chronic Environmental Contamination (CEC)

This is a situation in which a hazardous substance is known or perceived to be present. This presence can be in the air, water, or soil at elevated levels in an area. This contamination may be chemical or radiological or the result of prior/current industrial processes or a technological accident.

Chronic Stress

The experience of enduring stressors without a clear ending. These place ongoing demands that stretch or exceed a person's resources. Chronic stress can sometimes co-occur with re-traumatization and may lead to allostatic overload.

Community Resilience

The ability to withstand and maintain community integrity in the face of stressors. This is also the ability to creatively respond and reorganize.

Eustress

Healthy stress that is beneficial and positively motivating. Eustress is often perceived as energizing and may lead to personal growth and greater well-being.

Institutional Delegitimization

When responsible or socially protective institutions dismiss or avoid someone's concerns, such as the health effects of chronic environmental contamination. This can occur through denial or downplaying of health effects/risk, dysfunctional medical relationships, or (in)direct victim blaming.

Psychosocial Stress

A combination of "psychological stress" and "social stress." Psychological stress refers to emotional, behavioral, biochemical, and physiological reactions that people experience when confronted with a situation that strains their ability to cope. Social stress refers to feelings that can arise from a person's relationship to others. This stress can include family, neighborhoods, and the workplace, that can lead to psychological stress. Each type of stress can influence the other.

Retraumatization

Stress reactions and symptoms that occur consequent to repeated exposures to similar potentially traumatic events.

Secondary Impacts

The individual, community, and societal impacts of an event. For example, CEC, which includes stigma of "contaminated" areas. This can also cause conflict in local groups about how to define and respond to the problem. Public health and other interventions become part of the ongoing social construction of the situation. Secondary impacts are separate from the direct health effects of the contamination itself.

Stress

The reaction people may have when presented with demands and pressures that are not matched to their knowledge and abilities. This may challenge their ability to cope.

Trauma

Individual trauma results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances. These are events that an individual experiences as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening. These are events that have lasting adverse effects on the individual's functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being.