Beyond Labels: Embracing a Trauma Informed Approach to Stress, Distress, Overwhelm and Trauma
Understanding Stress, Distress, Overwhelm and Trauma
At Trauma Informed Law, we recognise that human responses to pressure, challenge and adversity are deeply personal. Labels like stress, distress, overwhelm and trauma can be useful in describing different experiences, but they don’t always capture the full picture of what someone is going through. Rather than focusing on definitions, we are more interested in how an experience is affecting someone - physically, emotionally and cognitively - and what might help.
Our bodies respond to challenge in different ways
We are all wired to seek safety. When something feels manageable, we can think clearly, connect with others and make decisions. When something feels too much, our body shifts into a state of protection. This might look like feeling on edge, overwhelmed, detached or shut down. These responses are our nervous system’s way of trying to help us survive.
Stress: Responding to pressure
Stress is a natural response to demands or challenges. In small doses, it can help us focus and get things done. But when stress builds up without a chance to recover, it can become exhausting and start to affect sleep, concentration and mood.
In legal settings, stress can show up in many ways - whether it’s a lawyer handling multiple urgent cases, a witness preparing to give evidence or an individual trying to navigate a complex legal process. If stress is ongoing without support or regulation, it can shift into distress.
Distress: When something feels unmanageable
Distress happens when the level of challenge exceeds a person’s capacity to cope. This is often when emotions become overwhelming, thoughts become harder to organise or the body feels unsettled in ways that are difficult to shift.
Someone giving evidence in a case involving painful memories, a lawyer handling distressing material daily or a person involved in a workplace investigation may all experience distress in different ways. It can be helpful to think of distress being a signal that the nervous system is in need of safety, regulation and support.
Overwhelm: When there’s no space to process
Overwhelm happens when there is simply too much. Thoughts may feel scattered, emotions may flood in too fast or there may be a sense of shutting down entirely. The body might feel stuck on high alert or completely exhausted.
For a lawyer, overwhelm might come from constantly carrying others’ distress without space to process their own. For a client, it might come from feeling lost in the legal system with no sense of control. It can be helpful to think of overwhelm as the nervous system signalling that it needs a reset. Without that reset, the system may feel it has no option other than to 'burnout'.
Trauma: When an experience leaves a lasting imprint
Trauma isn’t just about what happens - it’s about how the body and mind process it. When something is too much, too fast or too overwhelming to integrate, it can get ‘stuck’, leaving the nervous system in a state of continued alertness or shutdown. This can affect memory, emotions and the ability to feel safe, even long after the event.
In legal contexts, trauma can arise (or re-surface) as a result of direct experiences, such as experiencing a violation and/or engaging with a distressing legal process. It can also arise indirectly - lawyers, judges, HR professionals and investigators regularly hear accounts of suffering and are at risk of vicarious trauma, where others’ distress starts to impact their own wellbeing.
A different approach: Paying attention to the experience, not the label
Rather than assuming how someone ‘should’ feel based on their situation, we focus on what they are actually experiencing. Are they struggling to concentrate? Feeling disconnected? Holding tension in their body? Each of these signals something about what their system needs.
At Trauma Informed Law, we:
Support individuals, witnesses and teams to recognise the impact of stress, distress, overwhelm and trauma in themselves and others
Provide tailored support to regulate the nervous system and process difficult experiences safely
Equip legal professionals with tools to manage vicarious trauma and sustain their wellbeing
Advocate for culture change so that legal environments support, rather than compound, human distress
Ultimately, our focus isn’t on defining whether something is ‘stress’ or ‘trauma’, but on what would help someone feel more grounded, more resourced and more able to navigate what’s in front of them.