According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), 40 million American adults, ages 18-54, suffer with some anxiety disorder. But these are reported cases. Industry experts believe that the real number is much higher: men, women, and they, who live with this often debilitating condition. These statistics apply to before COVID-19. While there are many kinds of anxiety-related illnesses, CTSD and PTSD can specifically impact home ownership. Here’s how.

Environmental Influence Triggers Stress

While some people may be predisposed to developing anxiety disorders due to genetics, environmental stressors plan a heavy role in many cases.

Think about what you’re exposed to in daily life. The drive to and from the office during rush hour. Working with people who don’t vibe the way you do. Navigating through unrealistic expectations from management or clients. Fearing the repercussions from failure in our professional and personal lives. Toxic people. Toxic relationships. Toxic cities. Pollution in where we live, what we say, and how we treat one another. Unforeseen life altering events. A sudden injury, illness or death. Physical, sexual, or emotional trauma.

Ongoing exposure or a single incident in any of the above can bring about CTSD or PTSD respectively.

What Is CTSD

CTSD was first cited in the 1980s, after apartheid in South Africa was noted as a root cause for overwhelming anxiety in the region from years of suffering from political repression, violence, injustice and poverty.

Symptoms of CTSD and PTSD are similar but the origins of the manifestation of each differ.

Continuous Traumatic Stress Disorder “CTSD” is the body and the mind’s reaction to events that trigger fear, anxiety, depression and more. The key word here is continuous. How CTSD is generated in western society falls well within accepted culture, making it a dangerous phenomenon.

How CTSD Feels

Perhaps the most common place for CTSD is at work. While PTSD is the over-stimulation of our natural fight or flight response to specific occurrences, CTSD is like putting a thumb on our innate ability to feel and react to the emotional response. And it’s crippling our self-esteem.

Let’s journey through how this anxiety disorder can rear its head and derail your livelihood over time.

• You work in a fast-paced, highly stressful environment

• Your boss demands too much from you

• No matter what you do, it’s never enough

• Overworked, underpaid, and unappreciated

• Sunday evenings find you restless, anxious, and seldom bring a good night’s sleep

• Symptoms develop

  • Feelings of apprehension or dread

  • Feeling tense or jumpy

  • Restlessness or irritability

  • Anticipating the worst

  • Pounding or racing heart and shortness of breath

  • Sweating, tremors and twitches

  • Headaches, fatigue and insomnia

  • Upset stomach, frequent urination or diarrhea

Corporate Culture Manufactures Anxiety

Companies weigh their value on success metrics. Whatever needs to be done to reach goals and increase revenue usually supersedes an employee’s plea for an optimal work/life balance. People rely on their paychecks as the means for sustenance, shelter, and social wants. Here lies the pressure to remain in compliance at work versus speaking your mind, and reclaiming wellbeing. Most of us can’t afford to take that risk and hear the scathing words: “You’re fired!”

Instead, we survive through compartmentalizing our feelings and doing what is expected of us. By dedicating 40 or more hours each week to these behavioral patterns, we subject ourselves to toxicity where self-doubt overrides self-worth breeding fear, anxiety, sadness and despair. You might be a master at compartmentalizing but somewhere along the way, what affects you at work will infiltrate your home life.

Managers and Executives Carry CTSD Differently

If you are in a managerial position or dwell in the C-level hierarchy and have found success in that role, you are most likely well adept at compartmentalizing, though you may not realize it. And for the people you oversee or mentor, they may balk at your ability to turn off emotionally and instill irreparable harm to others. But then again, it’s how you and the corporate culture survive. But thrive? Not exactly.

Your Inner Voice Deserves an Outlet

When you get to a point where unsavory people or upsetting situations in the office don’t engage your feelings or an emotional response, make no mistake, your body and mind are responding nonetheless. At the cellular level. Unresolved and unaddressed continuous stress will hamper your wellness affecting emotional and physical balance. To help mitigate the toxicity we take in at work, choose a healthy outlet to combat the everyday stress.

Some people adopt an exercise routine, yoga practice, or new hobby to help clear the mind. It may not be enough.

Sacred Space Helps Minimize Stress

Changing our perception about career aspirations and the pressures that come from them can be helpful. Taking time to recognize just one positive thing that happens today allows us to experience fulfillment. However, having the right place to escape to, each day, will do wonders as well.

CTSD and Home Ownership

There are other characteristics to consider when looking for a home. While square footage, bedrooms, bathrooms, and neighborhood are important, there are elements of the space that undoubtedly affect emotional health. Sunlight and darkness can provide emotional health benefits. Therefore, the amount of windows and their placement within a home can support stress reduction.

The kind of real estate you reside in brings about social distancing on another level, so to speak. Our physical proximity to neighbors, vertically (apartments, condos, lofts) and horizontally (single-family homes, manufactured housing, townhomes) plays a significant role in our mental balance. Many studies show contraindications to living in urban landscapes where space is limited and greenery is scarce.

PTSD and Housing Needs

You may have heard or seen stories and reminders about being mindful of fireworks during July 4th as their sound and visual display can adversely affect our veterans who live with PTSD.

One of my clients was renting property to a veteran with PTSD. While sunlight has restorative qualities, the tenant did everything possible to cover up windows, door cracks, and inlets and outlets of electricity. People with PTSD need an elevated level of compassion when searching for property.

Not only are windows a factor for those with PTSD, but wall color can greatly impact their comfort. In fact, interior color is a great way to infuse a sense of calm for anyone looking to destress. Think light, muted, or pastel.

Rethink the Place You’re In

Home ownership is meant to provide quiet enjoyment, a space to unwind and restore mind, body and spirit. If a life-changing event has altered your housing needs, I’m here to listen. I’m here to help. If you or someone you know is experiencing the symptoms of CTSD or PTSD, advise them to seek medical attention.

Find counseling resources in Arizona, here.