Although there is no uniformly recognized definition of additive trauma, the term is used to refer to the accumulated effects of multiple incidents of a traumatic experience. This can include physical trauma, such as rape, injury, or molestation; psychological trauma (e.g., witnessing violence, fear of imminent death), or a fairly recent phenomenon called social networking trauma (e.g., electronic bullying, online destruction of character, threats, or other interpersonal injury through electronic methods).

Literature on Additive Trauma

To date, there has been scant research on the cumulative effects of additive trauma. What little that is available on the subject indicates that repeated trauma may have additive effects. For example, studies have shown that exposure to atrocities was significantly related to the severity of one's symptoms, that the exposure to ...

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