Social Sustainability
Pre-Traumatic Stress
Definition
Pre-traumatic stress describes trauma-like symptoms — intrusive images, hypervigilance, despair — experienced in anticipation of future events rather than after them, a concept named by forensic psychiatrist Lise van Susteren in the climate context. It affects people who closely track climate projections, including scientists, activists and young people, who grieve losses they expect rather than those already suffered.
References
Supports definition and framing.
Overview
How it is used
The term appears in climate psychology research, mental health professional guidance on climate-aware therapy, and discussions of activist burnout and youth mental health.
Why it matters
Naming anticipatory trauma legitimises the psychological burden of climate awareness and shapes how mental health systems, educators and movements support those confronting long-term environmental threats.